Don't Stop Believin'
by AutoKnight01
Summary: Sequel to Shadikal. Amy won a bet and now Sonic has to take her on a date of her choosing. He only signed on for one date. But will one be enough for him? Major Sonamy with hints of others. Read and Review.
1. Just a City Boy

**Me: Well hey there everyone! This is AutoKnight01 or as I liked to be called, AK. And coming to you live from my living room couch with my trust green laptop, to bring you what most of you voted for in my poll. That's right. This is the sequel to Shadikal.**

**Amy: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! And it's Sonamy! AK, please make this good like you did with Shadikal!**

**Shadow: Highly doubtful.**

**Sonic: HEY! Why would you say something like that?**

**Shadow: In my opinion, he nailed Shadikal. 15 chapters and 81 reviews. That's a personal best.**

**Me: Well not exactly, Shadow. True Shadikal is the most popular one of mine in reviews. But when it comes to hits, A Spy's Day Off still has a heavy lead.**

**Cream: Even on your AutoKnights series, Mr. AK?**

**Me: The AutoKnights is a crossover series. For a lot of people it's probably hard to keep up with all that's happening. It's hard for ME sometimes.**

**Knuckles: Um…why are talking about this?**

**Me: Quite right, Knuckles. Who's gonna be the first to do it for this one? NOT IT!**

**Everyone: NOT IT!**

**Amy: Oh well. Only fitting one of the stars do it first, right? AK only owns the plot of this story. SEGA owns the characters.**

**Me: Thank you, Amy. And now to all of you who enjoyed Shadikal, I hope you enjoy this one.**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 1: Just a City Boy  
**

_(Sonic's POV)_

_Okay. For those of you who don't really know what happened last time, let me bring you up to speed. Amy and I challenged one another to a bet to see if Shadow could fall in love. Amy was pro and I was against. Anyway, she hooked him up with this one echidna girl named Tikal. She's really cool, but the way she's so peace loving and pacifist all the time, it's hard to imagine her with a guy like Shadow. Right? Well get this. It worked. Amy's magic actually worked. Shadow and Tikal fell in love and they even shared their first kiss with the other. But Amy and I set a time limit for the bet and the thing is, they got together AFTER that time limit was up. But here's the thing. I admitted defeat and gave the win to Amy. And now I have to take her on a date of her choosing. Place, time, and all._

_It's not that I'm scared of a date. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog for crying out loud. I can handle a date. But this is Amy Rose. And I of all people know how she can get. Let's just hope she won't try to take me to a wedding chapel._

(Normal POV)

Yes it was all true. Sonic was going to take Amy Rose on the date of her wishes. In his mind, about five percent was looking forward to it. Another three percent regretted letting Amy take the victory and the other ninety two percent was afraid. Afraid of dating. He had dated one girl before. Sally Acorn. And she wanted him to slow down and not fight anymore. Which the hedgehog refused to do and ended up getting slapped in the face. But then again, he had been hit in the head with Amy's hammer many times before. But he cringed on remembering that she had never hit him as hard as she possibly could.

But back to the fear of this particular date. He was afraid that Amy would be the same way. He feared that Amy would want him to settle down as well. Sonic knew his time would come to pass down his power red shoes, but not now.

Aside from that, Sonic had only had hope for success in this date. He figured it would be just one date. That's what the agreement of the bet was. One date, one night of romance, and that was it.

But there was one problem.

It had been a whole week since Shadow and Tikal became official and Amy still hadn't come to Sonic with a date for the date. Sonic had a slight hope that she had forgotten. But on the other hand, he just prayed that she didn't get captured by Eggman again. It would be the old routine. Kick Eggman's ass, save Amy, and then start running from her. And now here he was waiting for her to make contact with him. No phone calls, no peeps through the windows of his house, not even Cream had heard from her. She had never disappeared for this long before.

Not wanting to wait any longer, he started to make some calls. He started with Tails.

"Hello?"

"Hey Tails."

"Oh hey, Sonic. What's up?"

"Well nothing really. Have you heard from Amy at all in the past week?"

"Amy? No, I haven't seen her ever since she technically won the bet. Why? Are you waiting for her to call?"

That last part was said in a teasing tone and Sonic just knew that Tails had a cocky smirk across his muzzle.

"No I'm not, bro. I just thought this would have been done with by now. You now patience isn't exactly my strong suit."

"Trust me, Sonic. I know that better than anyone else on this planet. But I haven't heard a peep from her ever since that night. Try asking Cream."

"Okay. Thanks, bro."

Dang it. Of all the times Sonic has tried to find Amy, it took him forever. But when it was the other way around…well we all know that. Amy has that special gene in her body that allows her to track down the one person she's destined to be with. At least that was what she said one time she caught Sonic.

He dialed in Cream's number.

"Hello?"

"Hi there, Cream. It's Sonic."

"Oh hi, Mr. Sonic. What can I do for you?"

"Have you by any chance seen Amy recently?"

"Oh. I'm sorry, but I've been trying to find her as well. It's been a week since I've seen her and I was just about to go for a walk around town and look for her."

That's when an idea presented itself to the blue one.

"Okay. You go and do that. I'm gonna call everyone else and see if they've seen her around. And when you get done searching, so you think you could call me back and tell me?"

"Of course I will. I should get going. Bye, Mr. Sonic."

"See ya, Cream."

That Cream was such a sweetheart. Sonic knew why Tails had a crush on her and chuckled as he thought of that.

But he quickly got back to what he was doing in the first place. He called Silver and Blaze. They hadn't seen her. Neither did Knuckles and Rouge, nor the Chaotix. There was only one call left to make.

And Sonic had to go into the phone book to find it. And he found a number for someone he thought would never have a phone number in the history of the universe.

It was Shadow's house number.

Shadow had just recently moved into that house with Tikal and he had to get listed in the phone book. He dialed in the number and sure enough, that dark shilling tone was heard.

"Who is this and what do you want?"

"Why can't you just say hello like everyone else, faker?"

"Great. It's not a wrong number." Shadow showed his unhappiness openly.

"Oh stop it, Shadow."

That was Tikal. How could Sonic hear both Shadow and Tikal?

"Shadow? Do you have me on speaker phone?"

"I'm too lazy to pick up the phone right now. Pushing a button seemed easier."

"Since when are you lazy?"

"Wince when do you care?"

"Alright boys. Calm down." Tikal said like a mother to her kids. "Hi, Sonic."

"Hey, Tikal. How's the new house?"

"It's lovely. And thank you for the housewarming gift."

Sonic had gotten them a welcome mat for a housewarming gift. It read, "GREETINGS" in big capital letters.

"You're welcome. Anyways, there's a reason I called. Have the two of you heard from Amy recently?"

"Rose? I haven't seen her since that night on Angel Island." Shadow replied.

"Same with me." Tikal added.

Sonic sighed.

"Yeah. That's what everyone else said."

"Are you looking for her?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah. Usually I'd be hugged by her at least five times already this week. But I haven't seen her."

Sonic had to make up a fake excuse. He had no desire to tell Shadow of all people that he was waiting for her to tell him when their date was.

"Sorry, blue boy. I haven't seen your stalker." Shadow said.

"Alright. Can you guys at least keep an eye out for her?"

"Sure thing." Tikal replied.

"Thanks a lot, you two. By the way, how are you two doing? You know. The whole living together thing?"

"Oh. Well we're doing perfectly fine. We get to see each other every minute of every day. It's really nice." Tikal answered with a cheerful tone.

Sonic smiled. Tikal was a sweetheart too.

"Well I'm glad to hear that. I gotta go, you guys."

"Bye Sonic."

"Goodbye, faker."

Both parties hung up and Sonic was left hanging again with his thoughts.

Where the heck was Amy Rose?

**Amy: Whoa whoa whoa! I'm not even in the first chapter? What gives, AK?**

**Tails: And why is this chapter so short?**

**Me: The first chapter of every single story I've ever written has always been short.**

**Vector: Really?**

**Me: Go to my profile and see all my stories. You'll see what I'm talking about.**

**Shadow: So now you're going back to work on the AutoKnights?**

**Me: Exactly. I really hope this story turns out good. I'm a little rusty on Sonamy. But let's see what time will do. Chapter 2 will be up ASAP. Until then, peace bitches.**


	2. Just a Small Town Girl

**Me: Hello everyone! I'm back again!**

**Shadow: I thought you would be done with this earlier.**

**Sonic: Yeah! What gives? You're quicker than this.**

**Me: Hey! If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for my absence.**

**Sonic: Me? Why me?**

**Me: Your newest game is a big success, Sonic. I've been playing a lot.**

**Amy: Oh right! Sonic Colors is out now!**

**Tails: And I have a new voice.**

**Me: Actually, Tails, everyone has a new voice. Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, even Shadow and Rouge got new voices.**

**Shadow: I like Rouge's new voice better now. She sounds less like a man now.**

**(Rouge slaps Shadow)**

**Rouge: You shut up!**

**Silver: Okay let's calm down.**

**Me: You got a new voice too, Silver. I must say you sound good.**

**Silver: Really? Thanks.**

**Amy: Can we get back on topic here?**

**Me: That's right. NOT IT!**

**Everyone: NOT IT!**

**Tails: Oh man. Didn't see that one coming so quick. Oh well. AK only owns the plot of this story. He doesn't own any of the characters.**

**Me: So please enjoy chapter two. And review. Oh yeah. And I don't own the song either.**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 2: Just a Small Town Girl  
**

The question was still in the air. Where was Amy Rose? And that's something Cream and Cheese decided to seek out themselves. They headed out right after Sonic called and they began the search. They started with where she spends most of her time.

She started with the park. It was everything a park should be. Clean, green, and beautiful. The air in that park was so fresh it brought delight to little Cream's nostrils.

Usually Amy hung out there a lot because she normally spotted Sonic in that area. But Cream checked the whole park and then re-checked. Amy wasn't there. So it was on to destination number two.

The Station Square Mall. Amy was a textbook shopaholic. Anybody with common sense knew that. There was one store in particular that she favored the most. It was called, FS. It stood for Fashion Statement. It had all the top styles in there and Amy was a sucker for it. But not today. She wasn't there either. Cream even swept over the whole mall at least five times and still not even a pink Mobian came into her sight.

Then she tried the chili dog vendors outside in the street. Amy always hung out around there just in case Sonic came by for bite. There had to be at least twenty or so vendors throughout the city, and she wasn't at any of them.

Cream had been walking for hours. She was now carrying Cheese in her arms because the Chao was too tired to fly. Then Cream's feet started to hurt. Thinking of one last place she probably should have checked first, she flapped her ears and took off flying back to Emerald Hill.

She landed in right in front of Amy's front door. Being polite, she knocked.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

"Amy? Are you home?"

There came no answer. So she tried again.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

"Amy, its Cream! I'm really worried about you!"

Once again, no sound came from the other side of the door. Checking to see if the door was unlocked, the rabbit grabbed the knob and turned it. It turned all the way and then it opened up when she let go. Cream didn't know whether to just close it and go home or to look inside. Her mother taught her never to go inside someone house if they weren't home. But this was Amy's house and she was really worried about her. She opened the door all the way and then took a look inside.

Everything was nice and tidy just like Amy liked to keep it. Then she started to look around for the hedgehog. Not in the kitchen, not in the backyard. Then it was time for the upstairs. And right when she placed her foot on the top step, Cream heard the voice of her best friend.

"No! That's no good either!"

She sounded a bit mad. And Cream was usually scared of Amy when she got mad. But that was only when she got SUPER mad. And those were starting to become rare occasions now. Cream walked up the upstairs hallway and opened the second door on the right. Amy's bedroom. When she opened it up, there she was.

Amy was hunched over a desk scribbling something on a piece of paper with a pen like a madman. And next to her desk, her wastebasket was overflowing with crumpled up pieces of paper. From the back view, Amy's hair was going everywhere.

"Let's see. Maybe he and I could go to Twinkle Park, then…NO NO NO! Dang it! He hates Twinkle Park!"

Amy crumpled up the paper and threw it on the ground.

"One stupid water ride! That one ride and he hates the whole damn place!"

"Amy?"

Amy looked behind her and saw Cream looking at her with very concerned brown eyes.

"Oh hey Cream. I was just trying to figure out what I want to do with Sonic. How are you doing? I'm doing great! Just great!"

Amy was talking so fast anyone would have thought she was the female John Moschitta. And she was still babbling.

Then Creamed sniffed the air. There was a very bad odor in the air. And when she got closer to Amy, it seemed to get worse.

"Amy? When was the last time you took a bath?"

"Don't have time! Gotta find out what to do with Sonic! I've tried this! I've tried that! I've tried everything! I've tried everything Cream!"

"You mean you haven't even taken a bath since last week?"

"Like I said! Don't have time!"

Amy started to scribble again but then Cream stepped in and took the pen out of her hand.

"Okay, Amy. I know how important this is to you. But you need to calm down."

"Can't calm down! Must make this date perfect."

Okay. Usually Cream wasn't the assertive type. But desperate times….

"Snap out of it!"

*SMACK!*

Cream smacked Amy on her forehead making the hedgehog freeze in her place. Cream immediately backed off.

"Oh I'm sorry, Amy!" she cried.

Amy gave a wave with her hand to signify it was all good.

"No. I needed that. Thanks." She assured her friend.

Cream smiled when she heard that.

"Okay. Now why don't go and take a bath, get cleaned up, and then come out into your living room, I'll be waiting there. You and I will talk. Okay?"

Amy smelled her armpits to see if that theory was correct. And unfortunately, it was.

"Oh wow! Yeah that's horrible. Alright I'll take a shower. Be out in five."

Amy got up and then she grabbed a radio that was on her desk and carried it into the bathroom with her.

Cream went down to the living room and sat down on the couch waiting for her friend. As she was waiting, she heard song that she had never heard before.

**A singer in a smoky room**

**A smell of wine and cheap perfuuuuuuuume**

**For a smile they can share the night**

**It goes on and on and on and on**

Cream had never heard that song before. Then she heard Amy's voice sing along with it. She wasn't bad at all.

Four minutes later, the song ended. And then Amy came down in a pink robe and wet hair and barefoot. She sat next to Cream and the rabbit spoke first.

"What was that song playing while you were in the shower?" she asked.

Amy gasped and stared right at her friend with an extraordinary amount of shock.

"You've never heard Don't Stop Believin' before?"

Cream shook her head. So did Cheese.

"Oh my gosh! It is only one of the most popular songs ever! And it's kind of therapeutic for me." Amy answered.

That made Cream a bit confused.

"How is a song therapeutic for you?" she asked.

"Well…I've been disappointed many times. Most of them due to Sonic. And every time that happens I've always come back here and listened to that song. It's given me the hope to go on and keep trying. So I won't stop believing in myself. It's my favorite song of all time."

Cream understood that. "I'll go home and listen to it on Mother's computer."

But then she got back to the reason she was there.

"Is that what you've been doing for a week, Amy? Trying to figure out the perfect date for you and Mr. Sonic?"

Amy frowned and nodded.

"Yes. I've had so many plans set if the day ever came. But now that it's actually going to happen, none of them seem right anymore."

"Why is that?"

"Because I looked at them all more closely and realized that none of them are right. This might be the only date I go on with Sonic. I want it to be perfect."

Cream had to understand what Amy felt. This was her biggest dream coming true and now that it was actually happening, opinions change. She wants it to be just right.

"Amy, don't you think Mr. Sonic will have fun no matter where you take him or where he takes you?"

"I don't want to scare him off, Cream. If I screw up on this date, then that's it. This chance will never come around again for as long as I live."

"You don't know that." Cream said to her.

"Please. Cream, right now you have a better chance of getting with Tails than I do of getting with Sonic."

Cream flustered when she heard that.

"What?" she murmured.

"Oh forget that for now. The point is I have no idea what to do. And I'm going insane. I basically gave up bathing for a week because of this whole thing."

Amy looked down at her robe when she said that. She was usually very upkeep about her cleanliness. To find out that she hadn't for a week disgusted her.

"Well, try not to forget again. I'm sure you'll want to smell nice for Mr. Sonic." Cream assured Amy.

"Well of course I do. But where the heck should I have him take me?" Amy grabbed her quills and pulled a bit out of stress.

"Do want my opinion?" Cream asked.

"You're my best friend, Cream. I'll take your opinion any day of the week over anything." Amy answered.

Cream always liked to hear that said to her.

"If you want Mr. Sonic to take you out on a second date, then I suggest not making this first one so big. Start small, and THEN make them bigger."

Wow. The words from the bunny's mouth stuck. And they were very good words.

"How do you know so much about dating when you've never even been on one?" Amy asked.

"My mother and I sometimes talk about stuff like that." Cream replied.

Amy nodded. "Thanks for your help, Cream. I know just what to do now." She got up and then grabbed Cream's hand. "Come with me. You have to hear this song."

Cream nodded and then she and Cheese were in Amy's room in thirty seconds. Amy sat down at her desk and pressed the PLAY button on her radio. And then the familiar sound of a piano playing came through the speakers as Amy calmly started to write again.

**Just a small town girl**

**Livin' in a lonely world**

**She took the midnight train goin' anywhere**

Cream bobbed her head slightly to the beat. Catchy lyrics.

**Just a city boy**

**Born and raised in south Detroit**

**He took the midnight train goin' anywhere**

The song went on and Cream found herself falling I love with it just like everyone else who heard the song for the first time.

As it did, Amy kept writing down her plan for the date. A few minutes later, Amy put the pen down and handed the paper to Cream. The rabbit nodded and smiled at her plan.

**Don't stop believin'**

**Hold on to that feeeeeeeeliiin'**

**Streetlight**

**People**

The last two verses repeated and faded away as Amy and Cream got up and walked out of the room together. Amy had a call to make.

**Amy: I knew it! You named this story after that song!**

**Me: What's wrong with that?**

**Sonic: I don't see anything wrong.**

**Me: Exactly. Now if you'll excuse me. Sonic Colors is calling me. That game is so awesome.**

**Vector: How come only Sonic and Tails are in the Wii version?**

**Rouge: Yeah. Why do THEY get the spotlight all the time?**

**Sonic: You're kidding me right? This is MY franchise! I always get the spotlight.**

**Tails: And I was around way before anyone else was aside from Sonic!**

**Sonic: They even gave out hats that looked like my quills for people who pre-ordered that game with Gamestop.**

**Me: I know. I have that hat. Blue, six quills, it'll be perfect for skiing. But I gotta go and work. I'll have chapter three up as soon as I can. Until then, peace bitches.**

**And enjoy Sonic Colors!**


	3. Some Will Win, Some Will Lose

**Me: Hey everyone! I got chapter 3 up!**

**Sonic: And in that time in between, how have things been for you? You seem stressed.**

**Me: I'm fine really. Just a little rushed at work. But then I spent time with my baby nephew, and we had fun.**

**Amy: What do you and your nephew do, AK?**

**Me: Oh he likes baseball. Man you should have seen him cheer when the Giants won the world series. God that was a good night. **

**Sonic: Does he like anything else besides baseball?**

**Me: Well he seems to be a big fan of YOU.**

**Shadow: You got a three year old kid addicted to Sonic's games?**

**Me: Yep. I even taught him the names of all you guys and everything.**

**Knuckles: I'm sorry. But is there a reason you're talking about this instead of introducing the chapter?**

**Me: So I like to let people know how I'm doing. Is that such a crime? I didn't think so. But you're right. Who's up for it this time? NOT IT!**

**Everyone: NOT IT!**

**Rouge: Huh. Oh well. Might as well use my new voice. AK only owns the plot of this story. He owns none of the characters. How was that? Perfect?**

**Me: It's just the chapter intro, Rouge. In fact I'm pretty certain most people find this part irrelevant and unnecessary.**

**Tails: So then…why do you do it?**

**Me: I don't know. I just always have. But who gives a crap? Enjoy chapter 3 everyone!**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 3: Some Will Win, Some Will Lose  
**

**(Sonic's House; 5:30 PM)**

It was the same evening. And Sonic was impatiently pacing back and forth around his house waiting for the phone to ring so Cream could tell him her status. Never in his life had he been this anxious to hear his phone ring. Usually whenever someone called him, it was usually an obsessed fangirl other than Amy just calling to hear this voice. And Sonic said the same thing every time. He asked them how they got his number and they responded with,

"My heart knew what it was."

It was one of the stupidest lines he had ever heard and he knew it was a lie. Amy was the one who coined it. Even Knuckles being as stupid as he is would know that. Sonic always suspected that Shadow gave his number to those girls just to screw with him. But he had no proof so he could never call him on it. But oh well. It's just a day in the life.

But still, he was worried about Amy. He would never openly admit this to anyone, even Tails who he considered to be his brother. But if he had to choose which crazed fangirl he considered to be his favorite, it had to be Amy. He thought that was a little weird to have a favorite fangirl. It was kind of like saying you're in love with someone who stalks you. Which is also kind of what it's like with him and Amy. But she was more fangirl than stalker. And for that, he was thankful. But he did find it creepy when he spotted her peeping through his window once a month in the night.

But still, all the creepy stuff aside, the two of them were friends. And for the work that she pulled of putting Shadow and Tikal together, she actually deserved this date. But how could there be a date if she never tells him where or when it's gonna be?

"_Come on, Cream. How late does Miss Vanilla let you stay out anyways? You're six. I thought you would be home by now."_

*RING RING*

Before it could ring again, Sonic already had his hand on the phone and had it up to his ear.

"Talk to me, Cream."

"Hey, Sonikku."

He froze. Only one girl called him that. And it certainly wasn't Cream.

"Amy?"

"That's my name."

Sonic was shocked to hear her voice. But he was also relieved to know she was alright.

"Where have you been the past week? I've been worried about you."

And of course that was enough to make her girly.

"I knew you cared about me, Sonic!"

Sonic slapped his forehead.

"_Oh why? WHY did I have to say it like that?"_

Now he had to correct himself to set it straight.

"Easy there, Amy. I'm just saying I thought Eggman got hold of you again and I thought you'd need to be rescued. But still…where've you been?"

"I've been cooped up in my room trying to figure out where to go on our date. And guess what? I've got it all planned out. You wanna hear?"

"Umm…sure."

Sonic braced himself for whatever Amy had planned. What was it gonna be? A shopping trip to the mall? A Celine Dion concert?

"I've made reservations for us at Café Lemoore. 7:00 on Friday night."

What? That was it? Just dinner? Sonic was relieved but also surprised at the plan. Nothing girly whatsoever. Just a nice dinner with just the two of them. He could do that.

"That sounds…just fine, Amy. Sure. I'll be there. Need someone to pick you up. Like me for instance?"

"No. It's alright. Miss Vanilla will drive me."

"Alright then. See you there."

"Great." But Amy remembered something before they hung up. "Oh and Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

"Café Lemoore is the fanciest restaurant in Station Square. So dress nice. Bye!"

Those words made Sonic freeze right up again. The two words he hated almost as much as he hated Eggman.

"Dress nice".

Sonic HATED clothes. His body was all fur. That's why none of the guys wore clothes. None of them liked the feeling of a shirt messing up their fur. They only wore shoes. The girls on the other hand HAD to wear clothes because of…well I'm sure that's pretty obvious. Knuckles even remarked once that he thought Rouge doesn't wear enough clothes.

But back with Sonic, he had no desire to dress nice. But Amy had all the shots called on this date, so he had to abide by her rules. But he would rather burn a suit before he wore one. This made a problem arise. He had no clothes of any kind, much less anything to wear to a nice place like Café Lemoore.

He needed to get his hands some nice clothes. And fast. It was already Wednesday. He had two days. Well, technically one and a half since this day was half-over. He went to his room and grabbed a few bucks out of a drawer in his nightstand. He always kept a few wads of money around in case he ever needed it. And unfortunately for him, he was going to blow one of them on clothes. He was probably going to have to use another one to pay for that dinner. Café Lemoore was a great place to go. But it was expensive.

Tucking the roll of bills behind his long quills, he took off for the mall. It was the closest place he knew that sold clothes for Mobians. He had to walk when he entered because there were too many people around to run at full speed. He found a men's department store and walked into it. He asked one of the clerks to tell him where the nice clothes section was. The clerk pointed him to the back of the store and that's where the hedgehog went.

He found blazers, pants, shoes, there was no way e was any other shoes but the red sneakers he loved so very very much. Black shoes were not him. The only one of them who might be able to pull off black shoes is Shadow because his fur is black.

"_This is gonna be harder than I thought. Should I go full on tux? Or just wear a jacket and hope she likes it?"_

Also, another reason Sonic himself hated clothes. He shares this reason with Shadow and Silver. They have spikes coming out of their backs. It's kind of hard to find a nice jacket to wear when you have spikes in your back that tear holes in it. It was a growing problem for all Mobian hedgehogs today.

But then Sonic went on a bit further to spot something. It was in the section that had the most up-to-date stuff in that section.

There were Mobian sized tuxes. And some of them even had special holes cut out in the back just in case the buyer happened to be a hedgehog.

"_Wow. They actually made this. Dammit."_

A tall human serviceman walked over to Sonic.

"Can I help you with anything, sir?"

Sonic looked up and nodded.

"Yeah. Do all these right here have to be bought as one whole suit or can I buy them one piece at a time?"

If you mean, can you take the jacket off a tux and by it separately, then no."

Sonic frowned.

"Ah. Alright, thanks."

The man nodded and walked off. But then someone else came up.

"Sonic?"

He stood straight up and his back went stiff. He looked up with very nervous eyes.

"_Please don't be Tails. Please don't be Tails. PLEASE don't be Tails."_

"Sonic?"

He slowly tuned to the right and….

"_Dammit. It's Tails."_

His little brother was there in the store and he had his cyan eyes locked on Sonic with very much surprise.

"Should I ask why you're here?"

"Please don't." Sonic begged.

"Too late. Why are you here looking at clothes?"

Sonic sighed. But then he thought of a way to change the subject.

"I'll tell. But you first. Why are you in here?"

Tails had nothing to hide.

"I was buying some new tools for my shop when I saw you come in. But then I saw you come in here."

Well that plan backfired. He sighed again and explained himself.

"Amy finally called me with the time and place for the date. Café Lemoore. 7:00 on Friday. But she also asked me to, 'dress nice'."

Tails smirked and chuckled.

"I knew there would be a catch with whatever she had in her head. But to make you wear clothes, that has to be low for you."

"Don't remind me. You know none of us guys can stand clothes."

"But Amy has total power over this date. So if she wants you to dress up, than you have to dress up."

Sonic rubbed his forehead.

"Could you please help me out so I can get the hell out of here? I'd would much rather be in one of Eggman's prison cells than here."

Tails thought of something right there.

"Sure I'll help you out. But then afterwards I'm gonna be left with the clear memory of seeing you in a store looking for nice clothes. And I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to keep that secret."

That tone. He knew that kind of tone. He got it from Rouge.

"Are you blackmailing me?" Sonic asked.

"Yes I am."

"But…but why?"

"Honestly, I'm bored. The Tornado is running perfectly and when I saw you, I thought, "Hey. Let's screw with Sonic a bit."

Sonic thought of the first thing that would buy him off.

"I'll get you a Chaos Emerald. Will that shut you up?"

"Well it would. But I know for a fact that you won't get one."

What? Tails did know who he was talking to. Right? He was smiling too.

"What do you mean? I can go and find one in less than five minutes."

"No you can't."

"Yes I can."

"Can't."

"Can."

"Can't."

"Can!"

"Can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because if you recall correctly, Shadow has all of them. And I highly doubt that he would give one to you just like that."

Sonic sweatdropped. He totally forgot. One week ago when Shadow and Tikal got hooked up, Shadow had used all seven Emeralds to go Super for Tikal. And he still had them.

So Sonic had to think of something else.

"Alright. What do you want?"

Tails already had his answer ready.

"Help me ask out Cream."

Ask out Cream? Sonic thought he was going to ask for money or something. But this was news.

"Since when do you want to go out with Cream?"

"Don't ask don't tell anyone about this or I'll go public with what I see in front of me."

"Hmph. Fine. I'll see what I can do. Now can you help me out here?"

Tails and Sonic shook on the agreement and then they both looked around at the selections. Tails had been around Café Lemoore a few times. He said that he saw Mobian males wearing full on tuxes every time he went by. So Sonic decided to go full on too. He tried on a few before deciding on an all black tux with a white undershirt and a black bowtie. He despised the way it felt on his fur. But it was only for one night. He could live through that. And Amy would kill him if he showed up in his famous natural look.

But another problem was the store he was in, didn't do rentals. So he had to actually buy the thing full time. And it was a hefty amount. But he paid it anyway and went home leaving Tails there to finish up his tool shopping.

Friday was right around the corner. Would Sonic be able to survive it?

**Me: And that's it for chapter 3.**

**Sonic: Oh yeah. I forgot to ask you, how far are you on Sonic Colors?**

**Me: Oh I've already beaten the whole thing. I actually just recently unlocked Super Sonic.**

**Tails: Oh yeah I've heard about that. How is it?**

**Me: It's really cool. But it kinda defeats the purpose when you've already beaten the game entirely.**

**Sonic: Who cares? I'm yellow, I'm glowing, and I'm awesome.**

**Amy: And hot too.**

**Me: Okay then. I'll get chapter four up soon. Until then, peace bitches.**

**Happy Thanksgiving everyone!**


	4. For A Smile They Can Share The Night

**I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! I only own the plot of this story. So enjoy Chapter 4.**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 4: For A Smile They Can Share the Night  
**

Man. Friday came a lot quicker than Sonic wanted it to. He wasn't really quite sure he was ready for this. Not yet at least. The last time he had went out with a girl, she wanted him to settle down and take off the shoes. And we all know Sonic can't do that. And that's what he feared most about this. What if Amy's no different than Sally? What if she wants him to stay at home too? Man he didn't want that. He would rather have his quills shaved off of him than stop running.

But Sally was a year ago. And Amy really liked Sonic's running. But he HAD to go through with this date. That's the thing about bets. You don't want to lose them. Then you're stuck doing something you don't want to do. The most common thing being you giving your money to some jerk.

But this wasn't about money. Although he was probably going to have to pay for the date but that was pretty much the extent of that matter. And then came the thing Sonic dreaded more than the date itself. He had to put on that stupid tuxedo he bought.

The undershirt and the jacket had those holes for his two back spikes. And his tail poked out the back of his pants. He had to get instructions off the internet on how to tie a bowtie. And even then it was hard.

There was no way he was going to put on those stupid black shoes. His feet would probably never be the same again after feeling different shoes. And if Amy didn't like that, then so be it.

Then Sonic looked at himself in the mirror and…he actually didn't look all that bad. He was one sharp looking hedgehog.

But it wasn't the look that bothered him. It was his fur being all tangled around due to those clothes being so tight on him. Maybe he just had to break them in. So he figured, what better way to break something in than running. But right before he went out the door, he froze. If he ran at full speed in this tux, the friction burn would probably set it on fire. Not to mention all the dust he kicks up will get it dirty. So he had to check running off the list.

Then the blue hedgie looked at his clock. It was almost 6:30. He had to go! He rushed to the door and opened it. But then he was blinded by a white flash.

When his eyes readjusted, he saw Tails standing there holding back his laughter while he stared at the one inch screen of his yellow digital camera.

"Ack! Tails? What are you doing?" Sonic asked.

Tails shrugged innocently.

"Just a little souvenir." He said.

"For what?"

"Nothing I guess. I'm still bored. See ya!"

Tails flew away and Sonic raised his fist to the air.

"YOU ARE SO DEAD IF YOU PUT THAT ON THE INTERNET!"

The sound of Tails laughing was the response he got. He knew Tails was enjoying this. But he had more important things to worry about right now. Sonic turned around, closed the door to his house, locked it, and then slowly began to run. It bothered him so. Running at such a slow speed, but he didn't have a choice. In ten minutes, he arrived at the front door of Café Lemoore. The name of the restaurant was lit up above the door in large white neon letters in the cursive style. Fancy sign for a fancy place.

Sonic was about to go inside and seat himself. But then he remembered something. Amy was the one who made the reservation. He didn't know which name it would be under. His or hers? So he just had to wait. The café was right next door to a clock store so the time was easy to see. It was 6:50. He had to wait ten minutes for Amy to arrive. And he HATED waiting. And the suit rubbing against his fur wasn't helping the situation at all.

But after ten minutes of agony, he saw Vanilla's car pull up. Then out of the passenger seat, Amy stepped out. And Sonic couldn't help but stare and drop his jaw.

Amy had gone all out with her outfit. She was wearing a beautiful red dress that went down to her knees and matching red strap shoes. There was one strap on the dress that went around her neck holding it in place along with the ties on the back. Around Amy's waist was a golden belt encrusted with diamonds. Whether they were fake or real was too difficult to tell. But what was around her neck was definitely real. Amy had around her neck a jade colored diamond necklace. The diamond itself was oval shaped and at least an inch in diameter. The necklace really helped bring out Amy's eyes. Also, she wasn't wearing any gloves on her hands. But she did have on matching wrist bracelets like the ones that were on her gloves.

Amy bid Vanilla goodbye and then she drove off. Amy walked up to Sonic who hadn't moved an inch. And that made Amy smile.

"Tee-hee! I'm glad you like my look, Sonic." She giggled. Then she noticed his own attire. "Wow. You look pretty sharp yourself."

"Homina homina homina."

Amy giggled again and grabbed his arm.

"Come on, hunk."

Sonic snapped out of his trance and walked in the door. The two of them walked up to the podium and Amy spoke to the person behind it.

"Reservation for Rose."

The waiter checked the list and found the name. Rose: 7:00 for two.

"Right this way." He said.

The waiter led them into the main dining area. It was indeed a very nice place. Everyone there was spiffed up whether they were human or Mobian. The tables were all square and they all had a long white table cloth going halfway down the legs. And each table had a single stick flame candle on it.

The waiter sat them at a reserved table with two chairs and walked away. Sonic, being the gentlemen he is, pulled out Amy's chair for her and let her sit down first. Amy smiled and Sonic took his own seat. And it was right when Sonic pulled himself in closer to the table that he realized something. He had forgotten how to act on a date. Sure he went on plenty with Sally but that was a long time ago. So saying he was a little rusty would be an understatement. And not only that, Amy and Sally were two VERY different girls.

"So…now what?" the blue hedgehog muttered.

"Now we talk." Amy answered. "Now we get to know each other better."

"But we already know each other. What else do you want to know?"

"Well…I personally know plenty about you. I'm sure you know that." Amy said.

"Believe me, Amy. I'm sure of that."

"Anyways, I don't really know your personal interests and all that stuff. But I do know that this is your first date with me or any other girl that I know."

That got Sonic thinking. Amy had absolutely no clue about his romantic past. So there was a dilemma. Tell her the truth and see the outcome, or keep it a secret and let her be happy.

No. Sonic was always honest with his friends. Even Amy.

"Actually, Ames. You got that part wrong."

Amy lost her smile and looked at him.

"Wha…what do you mean, Sonic?"

"Amy, this isn't my first date. And if this goes on any further, you won't be my first girlfriend."

Amy knew exactly what he meant by that.

"Who were you ever involved with?"

Sonic sighed.

"Sally Acorn."

Amy knew her. Brown furred squirrel. Princess to New Mobotropolis. Wears an open vest. She was one of the girls she set Shadow up with during the whole Shadikal fiasco. She didn't want to know about it, but she had to know for her sake.

"How long ago?" she asked.

Sonic sighed. He knew telling her would lead into telling her the story.

"She and I were friends ever since we were three. When we both became teenagers, we got together and even got betrothed. But after a few months into the relationship, we broke things off. I moved out here and I haven't seen her in two years."

The pink girl was shocked to hear about the whole betrothal thing. But she felt a little bit better when she heard about the two year gap. Then there was just one thing left that she wanted to know.

"Why did you break up with her?"

Sonic sighed again.

"Well the answer to that is simple really. She wanted me to stop being me. She wanted me to stop fighting Eggman."

"What? That's so selfish."

"Hmph. Tell me about it. Anyways, I haven't seen for a while, and I don't really mind. And why am I even talking about this? I'm here with YOU. Aren't I?"

That made Amy smile again.

"Yes you are." She said calmly. "And thank you for being honest with me about that."

Sonic smiled too.

"No problem, Ames. By the way, where did you get that outfit? You're….stunning."

The giggles returned to the pink hedgie.

"Tee-hee! You like it? Rouge helped me pick it out."

"I could have figured that out. But is that necklace you're wearing real or fake? Because I can't tell."

"Oh this?" Amy looked down at her neck and grasped the pendant. "Yep. It's real."

That astounded Sonic. A jewel that big couldn't possibly be in that girl's price range.

"But how could you afford something like that?"

"Well, I dipped into my inheritance a little bit."

Inheritance. Doesn't that only apply to people who have deceased family members? Wait. Amy's family…

"Who left you an inheritance?"

Amy regretted saying that. This was something she was not comfortable talking about. But Sonic was being honest with her about HIS past. So she could do the same.

"Well, my parents died when I was very young. In their will, they left me with everything. The house and enough money to help pay it off at a slow steady rate."

This was news for Sonic. Not very many people know that much about Amy's background other than the fact that she's been a fan of Sonic for years. No one knew about her family and no one was sure even SHE knew anything.

"I wish I had something as simple as a picture of them. I don't what they look like. Heck, I don't even know their names."

This was saddening the girl. Sonic could see that in her eyes. And he didn't want to have those eyes leaking with tears tonight.

"I'm sorry." He said softly. "I'm not sure if this helps, but I don't know all that much about my folks either. The closest thing I have to a family is Tails. Little guy is like my brother."

"I know how that feels. I've kinda considered Cream and Miss Vanilla to be my mother and sister."

Sonic smiled again.

"Hey. Let's cheer up. Aren't we supposes to have fun on dates?"

Amy nodded and smiled up again.

"You're right." She quickly changed the subject. "So I told you how I paid for my attire. What about you? That tux seems awfully expensive."

"It was kind of a rip-off in my opinion. But I could deal with it." Sonic assured her.

"But where did you even get the money for it?"

"Simple. My job takes care of that."

What? A job? Sonic? Those two things didn't really seem like they go together. Especially not in the mind of his biggest fangirl.

"Correct me if I'm wrong. But you don't strike me as the type of guy who would even WANT a job to begin with."

"Well…I wouldn't call it a job. I'm not employed or anything. It's just something I do on the side to make a few bucks."

Okay. Now THAT was like him.

"What do you do?" Amy asked obviously interested.

"I like to visit beautiful places. And some shops and studios pay me to get some good photos. They pay big for overhead shots of big cities." Sonic explained.

"You're into photography?"

"Yep. I don't know why, but aside from smashing up Eggman's robots, I love taking pictures. I even have a few scrapbooks back at my place of my favorite ones."

Amy was learning so much she never knew about him. Sonic liked to take pictures. And that immediately got her thinking to him making their future family album. But then her mind told her to stay in the present.

"I'd love to see them sometime." She said.

Sonic picked up his menu.

"Well maybe you should swing by one day. I'd love to show you." Then he looked closely at his food selections. "So what were you thinking of getting?"

Amy picked up her own menu and began to examine it like he was.

"I'm not really sure. Blaze was the one who recommended this place and she said almost everything they put on here is spectacular. So it's hard to choose." She turned the page and kept looking.

"Yeah. You're telling me." Sonic agreed. "I'm not seeing any chili dogs on here."

Amy sighed. She feared this might kill it.

"Sonic, this is a five-star restaurant. There aren't any chili dogs here."

Sonic nearly gasped. No chili dogs? What was pretty much all he ate. It was his fuel. Now he had to go a night without them. But he kept cool.

"Alright then, I'll just get something else."

That was…..unusually calm of him. But Amy knew him well. She knew on the inside, his mind was screaming out of fear and anger. As soon as he got home, he was probably going to rip that tux off of his fur and dash to his kitchen and make a whole platter of chili-dogs. But she was also interested to find out what would be the replacement for chili dogs tonight.

"I guess I'll have the lasagna. That's saucy. Right?"

Amy nodded. True there was a lot of sauce on lasagna.

"Good choice, Sonic. Let me see here. I remember Blaze putting a lot of emphasis on the fillet mignon. So I guess I'll get that."

Those words confused Sonic.

"What's "filet mignon"?"

"It's a kind of steak." Amy answered.

"Oh."

Amy was a girl who liked steak? Who knew? She seemed more like the salad-only type. Now Sonic kind of regretted his choice in his meal. But oh well. He made his decision. Maybe she would let him have a bite of hers.

Sonic flagged down the waiter and the two of them ordered. It was going to be at least ten minutes. A reasonable wait.

The two hedgehogs talked again. About a lot of different things. But they avoided anything that made them seem sad or depressed. That's not what the theme for this date is. In fact, Sonic wasn't even sure there WAS a theme.

And then the ten minute wait ended, and the food came out right on time. Amy wasn't surprised. Five-star joints have to be true to their word when it comes to wait times. Otherwise they lose a star.

Sonic took a look at his meal. That lasagna looked delicious. Ground beef, three kinds of cheese, diced onions, it looked amazing. Amy's stake was cooked medium-rare with a warm succulent juicy pink center. Just the way she liked it.

Sonic dug his fork in and took a bite. It was absolutely delicious. And then Amy sampled her steak. She had never tasted any slab of meat any more scrumptious than the one right in front of her.

"So how is it?" Sonic asked.

"Oh it's amazing. Here." Amy cut off a piece of her steak and put it on Sonic's plate with her fork. "Take a piece. You have to try this."

Sonic was hoping she would do that. He stabbed the little piece of meat with his own fork and put it in his mouth. And Amy was right. Not even the meat on his chili dogs compared with this little heavenly thing.

"Wow. THAT is good."

"What about your lasagna?" Amy asked.

Sonic smirked. Amy gave him some of hers and now he wanted to return the favor. He got a decent sized amount on his for and instead of putting it on Amy's plate, he held the fork in front of her mouth.

Amy couldn't believe it. Sonic was feeding her. She had always dreamed of a moment like this happening. Smiling, she closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and bit down taking in that bite of lasagna.

Sonic pulled away.

"_Did I seriously just FEED her? I did it with Sally. Sure. But I waited like….seven dates before even thinking about doing that. Slow down, hedgehog!"_

"Oh wow. That's good stuff. Good choice, Sonic."

"Not bad yourself, Amy."

The two of them smiled at each other and resumed eating. After they were finished, they gave their comments and then Sonic called for the check. It arrived and Amy was the one who picked it up.

"Whoa. Ninety five dollars? Oh well."

Amy was reaching in her purse for her money. But Sonic was NOT going to let that happen.

"Hold up there, Ames. I got this."

Sonic reached behind his quills and pulled out a wad of his own money. He laid down enough to pay for the bill plus a generous tip. Amy was at first going to complain that she should pay and not him. But he was too fast. He laid down the money and then the two of them left the place.

Sonic decided to walk Amy all the way back to her place in Emerald Hill. As they did, they gazed up at the stars. When they got far away enough from Station Square and closer to Emerald Hill, they seemed to get brighter.

Then they reached Amy's house. And they stood on her front porch.

"I really didn't expect this to happen, but I had a really nice time tonight, Amy."

"I….I had fun tonight too, Sonic."

Yeah, she had fun alright. But now it was almost over. The bet was for only one date. And now it was only a few minutes away from ending. Soon it would be back to the whole chasing bit. But before it ended. She had one question.

"Sonic, why didn't you let me pay for dinner tonight?" she asked.

Sonic smirked.

"Because a gentleman always pays on the first date.

Amy nodded. That was understandable…..WAIT! Did he just say…?

"First date? What does that mean?" she asked her heart becoming filled with hope.

Sonic chuckled and leaned in closer.

"It means…..I'll call you."

Sonic kissed her on her cheek leaving her speechless. Then he walked down her front walkway and looked back.

"Good night, Amy Rose."

With that, Sonic took off back to his house. And then Amy just had to do something. But she couldn't do it outside. Calmly, she walked inside her house and less than ten seconds later….

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Amy went to her radio and turned it on to her favorite song. She began to sing and dance all over her house out of joy.

**Just a small town girl  
Livin' in a lonely world  
She took the midnight train goin' anywhere**

**And that's the date! I hope everyone likes it. I wasn't really feeling to good about it to be honest. But oh well. Enjoy and review.**

**Me: Don't know and I don't really care. I'm not the one paying it. But anyways, I hoped everyone enjoyed this chapter. I'll get the next one up ASAP. Until then, peace bitches.**


	5. Paying Anything to Roll the Dice

**Hey everyone! I got chapter 5 up. I hope everyone enjoys it! So…..yeah. Enjoy.**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 5: Paying Anything to Roll the Dice  
**

Over the next two days, Amy waited hour after hour by her phone waiting for Sonic's voice to be heard from it. But she hadn't heard a thing. And she was a patient girl. But Sonic kissed her on her cheek and said he'd call. But it had only been two days. This girl obviously had little patience when it came to him and his promises. Especially this one.

He kissed her. KISSED her. Sure it was only on the cheek, but still, his lips made physical contact with her face. That was all she took into account here.

She was about to pick up and call him, but she restrained herself. She didn't want to sound desperate. Her personality sometimes screamed desperate. She got up and began to pace back forth in front of her couch. She also began to think out loud.

"Okay. Stay calm, Amy. You've been patient with Sonic for years now. You can last a few more days. He's gonna call. He's going to call."

She was a patient girl, but her patience was wearing thin.

"He's not gonna call!"

*KNOCK KNOCK*

"Amy? Are you home?"

That was a girl's voice. And Amy immediately knew who it was. She opened the door and just as she suspected, her six year old best friend was right there.

"Hey, Cream. Come on in."

Cream nodded and then she and Cheese walked in and sat down on her couch.

"So what brings you by?" Amy asked.

"I wanted to know how your date with Sonic went." The rabbit replied. "I forgot to ask you when you came home the other night. And as for yesterday, I had to go with Momma to another therapy session."

Amy had forgotten about that. When she and Sonic made the bet, on the first day she grabbed Shadow and forced him into a practice date. And the test subject was Vanilla the Rabbit. It started out good but then it took a pretty hard left turn. Shadow somehow got into this story about how he brutally killed a GUN agent with a hunting knife and Vanilla got up and ran out of the house to find a therapist.

"Oh yeah. How's she doing with that anyway?"

Cream shrugged.

"She's doing alright I guess. But she's still having trouble. On our way home, she saw a black car with red racing stripes, and then she started to scream at the car. I had to drag her away. It was embarrassing."

"Ouch."

Amy was hoping Vanilla would be past this by now. After all, it was two months ago. There had to be at least SOME progress.

"On the plus side, she can cut vegetables with a knife without fainting anymore."

Amy smiled. That was progress.

"Well that's good to know. But you want to hear about the date."

Cream nodded in agreement.

"Chao!" Cheese agreed to and fell into his owner's arms.

Amy plopped next to Cream and began to chat.

"It was nothing like I expected it to be. It was 150 percent BETTER! He was a perfect gentlemen, he was honest, true, he dressed up, he paid for the dinner, and best of all…he kissed me on the cheek!"

Amy just had to give a girly squeal after she said that. And then to Cream's own surprise, she squealed too and grabbed her best friend's hands.

"Oh my gosh! He kissed you?" she repeated.

"I know. Right? Then he looked me in the eyes and said he'd call me. Cream, you're a genius! You were right! I made it a simple date and now he wants to do it again! Oh I can't wait for him to call!"

"Did he say when he would call?" the rabbit asked.

That made Amy lose her smile.

"No he didn't. And it's already been two days. I'm starting to think he won't call at all."

Same old Amy. Always overreacting about something. Especially when it came to the blue hedgehog that was the being named Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Amy, I'm sure he'll call. Mr. Sonic never lies to anyone." Cream tried to make her feel better.

"I know that. But…..it just went so well, even I'm surprised. I just don't to blow this whole thing up."

"Do you want me to help you again?"

Amy quickly nodded. The previous time Cream gave the pink hedgie some young wisdom, it turned out to be great advice. If Amy had actually gone with one the plans she thought of WITHOUT Cream, Sonic would have probably tried to bail in the middle of it. So why not try and go two for two with the youngling?

"Please do." She awaited the words to come from her mouth.

Cream nodded and spoke.

"I've seen you get like this even when you're around Mr. Sonic. I suggest you play it cool and trust him. He seems a lot more comfortable around you when you're calm. If you're all worked up like this when you answer the phone when he calls, there's probably going to be an awkward moment. I know how that feels."

Those last five words in that speech replayed in Amy's head. Cream was speaking from experience? But how? The only guy who Cream would probably even consider is….of course.

"So….you've gone through this with a certain double tailed fox. Haven't you?" Amy said with a wink.

Cream's white muzzle rapidly turned a bright red. And that was the only confirmation Amy needed.

"I knew it! You have a thing for Tails!" Amy shouted.

Cream shushed her friend.

"Please, Amy. I only want you to know this. Not your neighbors too."

"Oh…..alright." She had to respect her friend's wishes. "So….when have you called Tails and froze up?"

"Oh I wasn't referring to ME calling HIM. It was the other way around. Tails called me and for the next two minutes, we just stood there with the phones to or ears."

"And which one of you broke the silence?"

"I did. But as soon as I spoke he said the Tornado was leaking and he had to go."

"Aw. As cute as this is, it doesn't really help me with the problem I have with Sonic right now."

"Sure it does." Cream corrected. "Tails and I had no idea what to say to each other because neither one of us was expecting that to happen. All you have to do is remain calm, and when Mr. Sonic calls, he won't be afraid."

*RING RING*

Amy's phone began to ring and she gasped. She had caller ID. And she looked at the number and gasped again.

It was Sonic.

"Omigosh! It's him!"

"Okay okay okay. Amy? Just be calm. I'm sure he will be too."

Amy took her advice and then took in a deep inhale of air through her nose. And then she let it out through her mouth. She pressed the TALK button on her phone and held it up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ames. It's me."

That voice. Every time Amy heard that voice it made her want to faint.

"Hi, Sonic. What's up?"

"Well here's the thing. I had fun on that date the other night…and well….I was kind of wondering if you wanted to do it again."

Thank god for Cream the Rabbit. She was right again.

"Uh….of course I would!" Amy cried.

"Great. How does dinner at my house tonight sound? And then I was thinking I could show you those scrapbooks I told you about."

"That sounds great."

"Awesome. Come by around 6:00."

"Alright. Bye!"

Amy hung up the phone. Then he and Cream began to jump up and down on the couch in girly happiness.

Sonic also put down his phone. Then he looked behind him where Tails was standing.

"Do you even know how to cook?" The young fox asked.

"Nope. That's why you and I are going to go to the wonderful world of the internet, and find out."

"Whoa whoa whoa." Tails backed away. "What do you mean WE?"

"You're gonna help me cook this dinner tonight man."

"Um….yeah. No."

"Oh come on, Tails! I've done so much over the years for you. And I'm gonna help you get Cream. You owe me!"

Dammit. Sonic was using the guilt thing. And it worked easily on him.

"Fine. Let's go."

Sonic led his little brother over to the internet where the selected their choice of food for the night. And they only had four hours in which to do it.

**I know this chapter was short but I couldn't think of anything else. I'll be back with chapter 6 soon. And I'll be working my Christmas story into this one I have decided.**

**BTW: I saw the new teaser trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It's awesome. But who is that robot at the end of it? Just have to wait and see I guess.**

**Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!**


	6. A Hedgehog in a Smokey Room

**I only own the plot of this story and none of the characters.**

**Oh yeah. And I'm aware that I made Cream a bit OOC last chapter. No more of that. So enjoy.**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 6: A Hedgehog in a Smokey Room  
**

It was 5:00. And Amy was up in her room with Cream trying to figure out what to wear to Sonic's house for dinner. And being how anxious the hedgie was, she had begun to raid her closet for the perfect outfit. And she was a girl. So there were almost a million different combinations of outfits to choose from.

"What about this?"

Amy came out of her walk-in closet with her next decision. She had on a pair of blue jeans, red flip-flops, and a white tank top that showed off her pink midriff.

Cream and Cheese rubbed their chins as they examined her choice of wear.

"I think it's showing a bit too much." Cream said.

"Chao!" Cheese agreed.

Amy groaned and closed the doors to her closet again. Ten minutes later. She came out again. She had on this time black pants, pink tennis shoes, and a red long sleeved sweater with a white stripe across it horizontally.

"Well?" Amy awaited the rabbit's opinion.

"That's cute." Cream at this point was now just trying to make her decide on something so she could go home. "Amy I have to go home soon. Momma will start to worry about me."

"But I have to look good for Sonic." Amy protested.

"But why? You're only going to his house." Cream said back.

Amy had to consider this. And she did. She wasn't going to a fancy restaurant. It was only Sonic's house.

"You're right, Cream. Tonight, it's just me and him. No one else around. I don't have to be the hit of the ball."

Amy turned back around and closed the doors of her closet. A minute later she walked out in her traditional red dress and red boots.

"Just me and him. No reason to go all out. Right?" she looked at her best friend.

"Yeah. But you might want to bring a jacket. It's really cold out." Cream agreed and then looked at the clock. "I have to go. Momma's making dinner and I don't want to miss it."

"Okay. Tell her I said hi, okay? And thanks for your advice."

"You're welcome. Have fun." Cream hopped off Amy's bed and headed out.

She grabbed her jacket on the way out then headed for home leaving Amy alone in her house. She had been to Sonic's house plenty of times. But she had hardly ever been inside it. So she had forgotten what the place looked like. But as interested as she was to see what Sonic's house looks like, she had her mind on the blue hedgehog himself.

He invited her over to his house for dinner. She didn't even think Sonic could cook. But Sonic was good at anything. And to eat a meal prepared by him was sure to be an experience.

"_Should I head over there early? I'm already ready to go and I have to wait an hour. But if I go early, he might think I'm anxious."_

Great. Now she had another dilemma. And there was no Cream to calm her down. But luckily, she thought and a solution by herself. She grabbed her phone and called Sonic's number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Sonic."

"Oh hey, Ames. Wassup?"

"I wanted to ask you something about me coming over."

Sonic paused before answering.

"If you wanna….do something else….than I guess…"

"Oh no! No no no no no no no! That's not what I was going to say. I was just going to ask if I could come right now instead of at six. It's kind of boring over here."

That made Sonic feel better.

"Oh alright then. Sure. Come on by."

"Great. See you in a bit."

Both hedgehogs hung up their phones and Amy felt relieved. Asking makes her seem less desperate instead of just showing up unannounced. She took the rabbit's advice and grabbed a black jacket out of her closet before leaving though. Then she turned on her Christmas lights because by the time she got back, it would probably be dark.

The rim of her roof was covered in white icicle lights and the trees in her yard were creatively wrapped with white lights at the trunk and green where the leaves should be. All of the leaves had fallen out since it was late in the season.

Smiling at her work of exterior illumination, she headed for Sonic's house. Five minutes later, there she was. He too had lights on his house. Multi colored ones around his windows and across the rim of his roof. That was it.

She went up the front walk and knocked on the door. Then it opened up and the blue hedgehog was there.

"Hey, Ames. Come in. It must be cold out there."

It was indeed cold. Amy could see her own breath. So she went in quickly and felt the warm air of the house.

"Ah. That's better."

Sonic came up behind her and took off her coat for her.

"Thanks you, kind sir." Amy remarked with a giggle.

Sonic hummed something unreadable and then he hung up Amy's coat on the rack by the door. Amy took a seat on Sonic's couch.

"So…..what are having for dinner?" the pink hedgehog.

"It's a surprise. In fact, let me go check on it right now."

Sonic rushed back to the kitchen and closed the door to it so Amy wouldn't see anything. And Amy got even more excited to figure out what the mystery meal of the night was. She took a look around his house.

Now the thing about Sonic's house is, Amy had felt like she had been in it before she knew Sonic. It was uncanny. It wasn't because of her fangirl fantasies. It wasn't because her house looks similar to his. In fact, her house and Sonic's are completely different models and the interior is totally different.

She had no idea what it was, but Sonic's house, whenever she entered it or got anywhere near it, she always felt she had been in it before. She couldn't explain it. If she told Sonic he probably would get weirded out.

But then her thoughts we're put on hold when she heard Sonic say this behind the door.

"What do you mean we're out of cheese?"

"I mean your refrigerator does not have cheese in it. How can I get anymore clearer than that?"

That other voice was Tails.

Tails? She thought it was only going to be her and Sonic. Why is Tails here? Sonic came back out of the door from the kitchen.

"Everything's going alright back there." He said calmly.

"What is Tails doing here?" She immediately asked.

"Oh yeah. I know I said it was only going to be you and me, but I need help cooking and Tails was here when I called you."

"Does Tails even know how to cook?"

Sonic looked back at the door to his kitchen and then back at Amy.

"No. But the internet is giving us a big help."

Amy caught that sentence. He said US. Not HIM. So that meant only one thing. Sonic can't cook either. And the internet wasn't really the best way to learn how.

"Sonic, do you wanna just order some food and save the hassle?" she tried to make him see what he was doing.

But Sonic shook his head.

"Nope. I promised you dinner and you're gonna get it. Be right back."

He dashed back to the kitchen and just for the fun of it, Amy listened closely to hear the two brother figures argue with each other.

"Sonic, why did you let her come early? At the rate we're going, it'll take us a week to get this done. In the right way at least."

"Oh come on. It's not that bad. At least we're not…..Tails? Is that supposed to grow like that?"

"No. What's going on?"

Then…..

*BOOM*

A small explosion came from the kitchen and smoke started to pour out of the cracks underneath the door. Amy got up and rushed to the door and opened it only to be greeted by the smoke that the door was holding back. She went into a coughing fit but she was still able to see two figures of a hedgehog and a fox through the smoke. The smoke finally cleared and Amy could finally see the two of them. And then her mouth turned into a smile. It was growing bigger and bigger and Amy was finding it harder and harder to contain the laughter that threatened to escape her mouth at the sight.

Sonic and Tails were completely covered in the ingredients they were using. It was mostly on their faces. There was a mixture of sauces, herbs, cheese, and a lot of other things.

The entire kitchen was also covered in the mess. Tails was glaring at Sonic with a look that could scare little kids. Then the two heard muffled laughing and saw that Amy was behind them with her hand over her mouth.

Sonic sighed. "Go ahead."

Amy let it loose.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

What was at first coughing turned into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. And it didn't stop after a full minute. Amy had tears rolling down her face she was laughing so hard. Sonic and Tails were completely embarrassed. Tails only prayed that Amy wouldn't tell Cream about this whole thing.

Amy, still laughing, wiped her eyes and left the kitchen leaving the two brothers alone. Tails was still glaring at Sonic.

"Okay. I'm sorry I roped you into this. But I'll make it up to you. I swear." Sonic told the fox.

Tails found a clean towel in the kitchen and wiped his face clean with it.

"What did you have in mind?" he said back at Sonic.

"Look. I promised you and I would help you ask out Cream and I will. Very soon. I promise. Next week is Amy's Christmas party and we're all invited. I'll make sure you get with her there. Agreed?"

Sonic extended his hand out to Tails and the young boy nodded and shook it.

"Fine. Agreed. I better get home. Have fun with Amy. And…..have fun cleaning all this up."

Tails tossed the towel to Sonic and he too wiped his face off with it and then rest of his fur as Tails went out the front door and flew away using his namesakes. A few minutes later, Amy finally stopped laughing and Sonic came out with his fur completely clear of any food projectiles.

"So….you in the mood for pizza?"

Amy nodded. "That sounds nice. As long as you're not the one cooking it."

"Yeah. I'm never trying that again."

"You're doing the world a favor." Amy joked.

Sonic fake laughed and got on his phone to the closest pizza place there was to his house. He and Amy agreed upon one pepperoni and that would to it. It was ten bucks and Sonic was going to pay.

"No. You paid last time. It's my turn." Amy stopped him from grabbing another bundle of cash.

"Are you sure?" he asked to be on the safe side.

"Yes I'm sure. It's just a pizza."

"If that's the way you want it. But I'm just saying, I got a huge payment yesterday for the pictures I took."

Amy remembered the other reason why Sonic invited her over other than dinner.

"Oh yeah. You said you would show me some scrapbooks of the pictures you take."

Sonic held up his index finger and dashed to another part of the house. Three seconds later, he returned carrying two big books with leather casing and put them on the table in front of his couch.

"Come. Take a seat." He patted the area right next to where he had his butt planted.

Amy smiled wide, then slowly took her seat by Sonic. And then he opened up the first book. All of the pictures Sonic took were of scenery. And there was no picture that looked exactly alike. They were all gorgeous. Mountain tops looking down over a snow covered range, cliffsides and the ocean, sunsets over the ocean, you name it, Sonic took a picture of it.

"Sonic….you've been to all these places?" Amy asked as she turned the page.

"Yeah. It works for me in two ways. I get a chance to see all of these magnificent places, and I get paid to do it. The only reason I take the pay is because of bills and stuff. And of course Christmas shopping."

"Oh yeah. Christmas is next week. How are you doing with your shopping anyways?" Amy asked interested.

"I'm almost done. I even got something for Shadow and Tikal."

"Wait. I'm confused. Did you get one thing for both Shadow AND Tikal? Or did you get two things? One for Shadow and one for Tikal?"

"What difference does it make?"

"I'm just curious because I have no idea what to get Shadow. The only thing I can think of is a gun. And I can't buy that for him. What did you get for him?"

Sonic looked at his Christmas tree which was right across the room in front of the windows facing his front yard.

"Believe it or not, I actually bought Shadow a switchblade."

Amy looked at the hedgehog stunned.

"A switchblade? Are you serious?"

"I couldn't think of anything else he would want. Am I a bad person for buying someone else a weapon?"

"Sonic, you could never be a bad person." Amy rubbed the blue one's shoulder. "But….just make sure Vanilla doesn't see him open that present. She kind of has this thing about Shadow and knives now. Don't ask."

The two of them paused again. Then Amy broke the silence.

"So what did you get Tikal?"

"A bullet proof vest."

Amy's face dropped when she heard that.

"Please tell me you're joking."

"Oh no way. She's living with Shadow. It's better for her to have one than to not have one when around him. Am I right?"

"Sonic, Shadow doesn't use guns in front of her anymore. That's a horrible thing to give her!"

"But I don't know what else she would like. She comes from the past. What am I supposed to do? What did YOU get her?"

"I got her this really cute scarf. It's orange so it matches her fur."

It was right there Sonic thought of something.

"How about this. How about tomorrow, you and I head to the mall. I'll help you find something for Shadow, and you help me find something for Tikal. How does that sound?"

It sounded great to Amy. It was great because Sonic had just planned date number three right then and there. And it was Amy's favorite activity of all time. Shopping.

"That's wonderful." She said softly.

Then the doorbell rang. The pizza was here. Amy got up and went to the door to pay the man. It was ten bucks plus a tip and she covered it no problem and took the pizza inside. She placed the box on the table and she and Sonic took a seat across from each other.

"You know this would have been easier than messing up your kitchen. Right?" Amy asked.

Sonic took a slice of pizza and gave his answer.

"Yeah. Tails wasn't too happy about it. But the arrangement he and I have going keeps his spirit up."

"What arrangement?"

"Oh I promised him I'd help him ask out Cream. Little guy has a crush on her."

Amy froze in place when he heard him say that.

"What did you just say?"

Sonic realized exactly what he said. He just blabbed his best friend's secret.

"Nothing. Just forget I said anything."

"No no no. It's okay. I won't tell anyone else. I swear." Amy got to thinking. "This actually works very good for us. Because I have it on good authority that Cream has a crush on Tails."

"Really? On whose authority?"

"Cream."

There was no higher authority than that in this case. Amy looked at Sonic very closely.

"Sonic. I've got date number four planned for us. Next week at my Christmas party, you and I are going to make our two best friends get on date number one."

Sonic smirked at the pink hedgie.

"And I suppose you already have a plan for this in mind."

Amy smiled and nodded.

"Listen closely, hedgehog. This is gonna require both of our skills in this one."

Sonic leaned in closer and listened to Amy's plan. Next week was Christmas. So they had plenty of time to work out the kinks. But the success was all relying on Tails and Cream..

**And that's where this chapter ends. Next week, Christmas!**


	7. Especially on Christmas

**Hey everyone. AK here finally with the holiday special for this year. I don't own any of the characters. They only belong to SEGA. So without further ado, I present this year's long Holiday Special from AK. Enjoy it and Happy Holidays!**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 7: Especially on Christmas**

**(Friday; December 24****th****; Amy's House)**

Amy's 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Party. Yes. She had made it her tradition to have a party every Christmas Eve with her close friends. This year, she was going to make it similar to how she had it last year. Food, drinks, karaoke, gift exchanges, and a special platter of Sonic's favorite chili dogs just for him. It was true. She was bringing out her karaoke machine again just like she did last year. Not everyone sung a song. But she was hoping this year that would all change. And she was hoping Sonic would sing too.

Last year, the party didn't exactly go as Amy had planned it would go. She found the song machine dusty in her closet and brought it out for the hell of it. But then when he heard that Sonic was going to sing, and that he wrote a song of his own, she thought it was going to be a song for her in which he confessed his love. That wasn't what happened at all. The song he sung was actually about Knuckles and Rouge. Last year, Sonic filmed them kissing right by the Master Emerald and sung a song called, **I Saw Knuckles Kissin' Rouge the Bat. **The two got into an argument afterwards, but only hours after, the two ended up hooking up that night and spent their first Christmas together. So it was actually partly because of Sonic that the two got together. The other part was because of Shadow who had a pep talk with Knuckles after Rouge ran out of Amy's house crying.

But, thankfully, the two made up, and they've been dating and living together ever since. So this was going to be their anniversary as well.

But enough about Knuckles and Rouge. Back to the main couple here.

Amy had everything planned out. The party starts at 4:00 PM, and it goes on until the last person leaves. At 7:00, that's when the karaoke would start. But this wasn't just a party for Amy, this was also date number four for her and Sonic. Date number three happened two days ago when the two hedgehogs went to the mall to finish up their Christmas shopping. Amy helped Sonic find something for Tikal to replace the ridiculous bullet proof vest he got her in the first place. And Sonic helped Amy find something Shadow might appreciate.

Amy ended up getting Shadow a, "Clean Your Own Gun" kit. And Tikal already knew what candles were. But Shadow had to explain to her the concept of scented ones. And she actually quite enjoyed it. So he got her a large scented candle with four wicks in it and the scent was called, "Rain Forest". He thought she might appreciate the scent since she used to live near one back in her own time. He also got her a wire metal stand to put the candle on as an accessory to the house as well.

Now all that was left to do was get the house ready for said party. And it was already 1:30. Only two and a half hours before guests star showing up. At least officially. A lot of people tend to show up early for parties. Cream, Cheese, and Vanilla showed up early last year to help with decorations and what not. But the pink hedgehog just hoped there was going to be enough room for all her guests. The guest list this year was a bit bigger than the previous. Here's this year's.

The Guest List:

Sonic 3

Tails

Cream (and Cheese)

Vanilla

Knuckles

Rouge

Vector

Espio

Charmy

Shadow

Tikal

Silver

Blaze

(Omega?)

Last year, Shadow had brought along the destroyer robot, E-123 Omega. Shadow was trying to show him the ropes of a Christmas party, and he seemed to catch on pretty well. The robot was actually conversing with people. Even though he was talking in a monotone, he was still talking to people like a normal person.

That was 15 people in total. Only if you count Cheese that is. And all of them had one gift for each person. Yep. They were all one big family. A strange one, but they all considered each other to be family. Shadow not so much, but he had to be happy this Christmas, for this time he actually got to spend it with someone he actually cared about. Amy got to thinking about all that happened in the past year.

"_It went by fast. Knuckles and Rouge got together last year. Then Silver and Blaze came back to this time and then THEY hooked up. And now even Shadow has his own love to spend the holidays with."_

Then Amy looked up to right above her door. She had hung mistletoe there and smiled at it. And of course she already had high hopes that little weed would fulfill its duty tonight.

"_But hopefully this year is the year I get my big blue hunk."_

*DING DONG*

The doorbell cut Amy off from her thoughts and she went to answer the door. And there were two very familiar rabbits and a chao standing there in winter clothing.

"Hey. Come on in!"

Amy opened up her door all the way to let Cream, Cheese, and Vanilla get away from the cold and snow outside. Vanilla had a few gifts in her hands and Cream had a bowl covered with aluminum foil in hers.

"Come to help out?" Amy asked already knowing what the answer was.

"Yes." Cream answered.

Amy looked up at Vanilla and walked over to her.

"Need some help with those?" the pink hedgie asked referring to the presents.

"Oh thank you, dear." Vanilla leaned down and let Amy take a few off the stack Vanilla had in her arms.

Amy led her over to the tree where there were already a few presents. All of those were to her friends from her. Then she helped Vanilla place the others nicely underneath to go along. But then she remembered a complication with Vanilla. That complication being in the form of a certain black and red striped hedgehog.

"Um….Miss Vanilla?" She decided it would be better to let her know now rather than have her freak out when he walks through the door uninformed. "I really hope this isn't going to be a problem….but I invited Shadow to come too."

Vanilla froze up. But she tried her very best to make a face that convinced Amy she was okay. And she failed. Epically.

"Of…..of course not. W..w..why would you think that?"

Amy wasn't impressed nor bought over.

"Miss Vanilla, I was there when he told that story and I know what it did to your head. But I'm gonna let you know right now. He's not like that anymore. Thanks to my ingenious skills of matchmaking, he has a girlfriend. And he's much calmer and nicer now that he has her."

That actually made Vanilla feel a whole lot better than she did five second ago.

"Shadow has a girlfriend? Who?"

Cream walked over and answered that one.

"Momma? Do you remember Miss Tikal?"

Vanilla was surprised to hear that. She had met Tikal a few times before she hooked up with Shadow.

"That nice orange echidna? Well….good for him."

That caught Amy a bit by surprise.

"That doesn't surprise you or anything?" she asked.

"Oh it surprises me plenty. But who am I to judge other people's relationships? If the universe decided to pair those two up, then I hope they'll be happy."

Vanilla was always the voice of reason for Amy when she was growing up. And she smiled knowing that the aged rabbit still had plenty of wisdom to go around.

Then Amy took a whiff of the air through her nose. And she noticed the scent of the place had changed a bit. It smelled….minty.

She continued to sniff the air until she finally tracked the aroma to the bowl Cream had in her hands. And knowing what Cream had put in there, she smirked.

"Would that happen to be mint candy?" she asked teasingly.

Cream turned away and blushed. And that was Amy's confirmation.

"So you're going for the whole favorite food trick. You and me both, sister. I've got a platter of Sonic's chili dogs just begging to be eaten by him."

"Well…I just know he really likes it. And mint candy is nice for Christmas."

Amy knew Cream was just trying to make excuses so she wouldn't be embarrassed in front of her mother. She would have plenty of chances to have fun with this. Right now she had work to do.

"Alright then. Cream, why don't you go put that bowl on the table over there, and then you and I will finish putting up decorations and what not. Miss Vanilla…."

"I'll be in the kitchen, dear. Don't worry about me."

Vanilla got up and headed right for the kitchen leaving the two girls alone with their chao friend. Amy took a look around her living room.

"Alright. How about you and me try to move the couch and chair over to the side. That way there will be more room to walk and stand around, and when it comes time for karaoke, it'll be kind of like a stage area. Oh that reminds me. I called Tails over an hour ago asking him to come by and put more music into that machine. Where is he?"

Cream blushed again.

"You….you asked Tails to come early?"

Amy smirked yet again. This wasn't exactly planned, but it's nice when stuff falls into place like that.

"Yep. He should be here any minute." Amy replied.

*DING DONG*

"And there he is."

The shade of red on Cream's muzzle intensified as Amy opened the door and let the fox in. He had in his hand a yellow DELL laptop so he could program the karaoke machine. But when he saw the little rabbit that he was crushing on, he froze and began to stare at her. And all Cream could even think of doing was just stare back.

"Um….hi." Tails muttered.

"Hello." That was all Cream could say as well.

Then Tails began to stutter.

"S..s..so…I'm just….yeah."

Not wanting to look like an idiot any longer, he walked away and immediately got to work on what Amy asked him to do. He put in some classic carols and other songs by various people.

As he did that, Amy grabbed the phone and snuck away upstairs to her bedroom and locked the door behind her. He dialed in Sonic's number.

"Hello?"

"Sonic, it's Amy. I need you to come to my house right now."

Sonic looked at his clock. It was only 1:45.

"I thought the party didn't start till four."

"I know that. But right now it's only me, Cream, Vanilla, and Tails. And I was thinking since it's just us right now, you and I could work our magic with them."

Sonic smiled knowing what she was getting at.

"So you wanna make them comfortable around each other right now so when it comes party time, they'll be fresh for each other. Am I right?"

"Exactly. So get over here because I can't do this mission alone."

"Give me twenty seconds."

Amy hung up the phone and then walked back downstairs while counting down those twenty seconds in her head. And right when she reached zero…

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

"_Dang he's good."_

The blue hedgehog was right at the door with his own stack of gifts in his hands. One for everyone all from him. But Amy failed to notice that there was one of the gifts in the pocket of Sonic's black jacket. And that one was to remain a secret until later tonight.

Amy let Sonic in and helped him gather those gifts around the tree along with Cream's and Miss Vanilla's. While they were kneeled down, Sonic looked up at his brother. Then he looked over at Cream.

"So they're avoiding contact?" he asked.

"That's the situation. You and I are going to make that reverse."

"This is going to be a fun fourth date." Sonic said with a smile.

Amy couldn't help but smile when she heard those words. This wasn't a conventional date, but it was still a date.

"Well then, let us begin." Sonic stood up and walked to Tails and Amy headed for Cream.

Sonic looked over Tails' shoulder. Tails was too busy doing what he was doing he didn't even notice Sonic come into the house a few minutes ago.

"You almost done there?"

Tails jumped up and nearly hit the ceiling when he heard Sonic's voice. Breathing deeply and clutching his chest where his heart was, he turned around.

"When did you get here?"

Sonic backed off a bit after seeing Tails reaction.

"A few minutes ago. Didn't you hear me knock on the door?"

"No. And please don't come up behind me like that again!"

"Sor-EE! Geez." Then Sonic got the reason he was right there. "So…now's the time, Tails."

Tails released his beating heart confused by that statement.

"Time for what?"

"It's time for me to hold up my end of that deal you and I made. I'm gonna help you get Cream."

Tails looked hopeful when he heard that. But that feeling of hope was followed quickly by a feeling of total panic. He turned around and began to type on his computer again.

"I can't right now. I'm busy."

Sonic sighed. He grabbed Tails hands, moved them away from the keyboard, and then closed the laptop.

"You have hours to finish that. Right now, I'm gonna help you with Cream. And it can all be done with one simple step. Just be cool, bro. Just go up to her and talk to her."

"But what would I even talk about? I don't think she understand anything about mechanics."

"Okay. This is step two. Don't EVER talk about mechanics with her. This is what you do. You just walk on up to her. And then you guys just talk. Ask her what she likes to do and things like that."

Tails was trying so hard in his head to think up a reason not to do it. But whenever it came to the subject of Cream the Rabbit, his brain went dead. Young love. It was always so cute.

But while this conversation was going on, Amy and Cream were having one of their own in Amy's bedroom. And the topic was the same. Having courage around your crush.

"I don't know, Amy. I don't think he's interested in me."

Amy gasped at this. Who could she had such little faith.

"What….what makes you think something like that?"

"Well….he seemed really down after Cosmo moved away a few months ago. I think he actually likes her and not me."

Last year, Cosmo the Seedrian was living with Tails. But she moved away five months ago because she thought there was more out there for her in the world than there was in Emerald Hill. Tails was pretty sad after she left.

This was a complication Amy hadn't anticipated. Cream likes Tails, but she honestly thinks Tails has no interest in her. But Amy didn't want to blab to her that she knew Tails actually DID feign great interest. She wanted her young friend to figure that out on her own. So she had to give a pep talk.

"Cream, Tails and Cosmo were never actually an item. She just lived with him because they were friends and she didn't have anywhere else to go. And he probably upset when she left because now he had to live in that house by himself again. Doesn't that make a bit more sense?"

Cream got to thinking. Amy was right. Tails and Cosmo lived with each other for nearly a year and a half before she left. And in that time she had never seen the two of them give off any hints that they were in love with each other. Maybe he really didn't feel that way about the plant girl.

"You really think he likes me, Amy?" she asked in that high-pitched voice of hers.

Amy didn't answer the question in the way Cream wanted to hear it, but she did answer honestly.

"I think the two of you would be really cute together. And the only way you can be together is if you go down there and talk to him."

"But I have no idea what to say to him. How to I start in on a conversation?"

Amy already had that planned out.

"Go down there and offer him one of those mint candies you made just for him. I'm sure that will break the tension. And then you just talk."

"About what?" the rabbit asked one more question before Amy wrapped this up.

"Just talk about whatever. But most importantly, find out what he really enjoys doing OTHER than fixing that silly plane of his. Trust me. You get a geek started on mechanics they'll NEVER shut up."

"Should I call Tails a geek? Is a geek a good thing?"

Oh boy. Cream was still at that young age where she didn't know what some words meant to others.

"No. Never call him that. If you want to be his girl do not EVER call him that. Tails is a very sensitive guy." Now came the time. "Now just go on down there, and just be yourself. But most of all, be confident."

Cream nodded and then made her way downstairs with Amy right behind her. When they reached downstairs, they saw that Tails was alone in the living room and he had resumed working on the karaoke machine. Cream had her eyes locked onto the kitsune like a fighter jet's crosshairs on another plan ready to fire. She didn't even notice that Sonic was on the other side of the room. Amy looked over and Sonic gave her his trademark thumbs up, meaning that it was all set. Amy nodded back in response. It was now or never.

Cream grabbed one of the tiny white and green candies out of the bowl she had brought and slowly walked over to Tails. Amy went over to Sonic and the two of them were now peeking from around the corner of a wall.

Tails was again completely oblivious to what was happening around him. But that startle he received from Sonic made him more alert. So when Cream said….

"Hi there, Tails."

….he didn't jump up this time. Instead he stiffened, looked to the left, and saw the big, adorable brown eyes that belonged to the cute rabbit. Then he froze up.

"Uh…hi, Cream." Was all he could think of saying.

Then began a ten second interval of awkward silence. Then Cream looked at the computer screen, and decided to end the quiet.

"So…what are you doing?" she asked.

Tails looked back at his screen.

"I'm just finishing up programming the machine for later tonight. I downloaded all kinds of different songs into it." Then Tail thought of something. "Are you going to sing tonight, Cream?"

Cream smiled. They now had a topic of conversation. Yay!

"I sung last year. So I thought I would this year too. So yes."

"Cool. What song are you going to sing?"

"I was actually thinking of singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town. What do you think?"

"You're a good singer. It doesn't matter what you sing. You'll sound good."

Cream blushed when she heard that compliment.

"Thanks, Tails. What about you? Are you going to sing?"

"Nah. Not this year. But I heard Sonic is going to sing again."

That got Cream worried.

"He's not going to sing about Knuckles and Rouge again. Is he?"

"I'm not sure. He didn't say anything other than he's going to sing. Then he….*SNIFF SNIFF*" Tails' canine sense of smell caught on to his favorite scent of all time. "I smell something….minty."

That's when Cream remembered what she had in her hand. She held it out opened up in front of Tails.

"I made a whole bowl of these just for you." She said.

Tails was taken a back a bit when he heard that. He looked at the small candy in her hand and stared at it.

"You made a whole bowl of mint candy for me?" he repeated.

Cream could only nod. Why did she just blurt that out?

"Wow. Thanks a lot, Cream. I love mint candy."

He took the small tablet of green and white out of her hand and popped it into his mouth. It was spicy and refreshing at the same time. Just like mint should be.

Back with Sonic and Amy, the two of them continued to watch as their two best friends conversed with each other. They felt like their work had actually gotten put to good use. They had been best friends with Tails and Cream for years. And Sonic and Amy knew those two liked each other even before THEY knew. So this whole thing was kind of inevitable.

A couple more hours passed. Tails and Cream were a bit more comfortable now. And then people started showing up. First Silver and Blaze showed up. Then the three buffoons of the Chaotix came in. Next was Shadow and Tikal. Then Knuckles and Rouge showed up.

That was everyone. The whole list was accounted for. All except for Omega. But no one was quite sure whether he would come. And Tikal didn't even know who Omega was.

All throughout the first hour of the party, all everyone did was talk to each other. And the tree was now overflowing with gifts for everyone. The time would come to open those after Christmas dinner. Amy had a special turkey in the oven and she couldn't wait to eat it. It was now 5:30. She went to the kitchen to go and check on everything food wise. And not surprising to Amy, Vector was in the kitchen with Vanilla trying to flirt with her. And when Amy walked in, Vanilla couldn't get out of the conversation with the croc fast enough.

"How's the turkey coming?" The pink hedgehog asked.

"Oh it's almost ready dear. Just about five more minutes. Why don't you get everyone seated and by the time they're ready, it'll be done."

"Okay."

Amy turned around and headed back to the living room.

"Alright everyone! Dinner time! Let's go!"

Everyone heard that perfectly and they all made their way to the dining room. Amy had set up her table so everyone would fit. Of course, everyone who was an official couple sat next to each other. Shadow and Tikal, next to them Silver and Blaze, around the corner there was Espio, Charmy, then Vector, then Tails and Cream ended up next to each other, to which they blushed. Then Sonic and Amy took their seats next to each other.

Then Vanilla came into the room with the turkey steaming with its awesome aroma. Everyone began to smile at the big bird. And just as Vanilla but it down….

*KNOCK KNOCK*

Everyone shifted their heads so their eyes were locked on the door.

"Did you invite anyone else, Amy?" Tikal asked.

"I don't think so. Hold on. I'll go see who it is."

Amy got up and went to the door. When she opened it up, she looked up at who it was, and then looked back to the dining room.

"Shadow! I think it's for you!" she called.

Everyone was now looking at Shadow as he got up and went to the door. And then he realized what Amy meant by that comment. Standing at the door was a black and red robot with studded wrists, and two red Omega symbols on his shoulders.

"Shadow, did you tell Omega to come?" Amy asked.

"I just said I was going to a party. I just said he could swing by if he likes. I didn't think he actually would." Shadow muttered.

"This is where I came last year. I assumed it was a tradition." Omega said in that monotone voice of his. "May I enter the household?"

Shadow looked at Amy.

"It's your call." He said to her.

Amy sighed and rubbed her forehead. Then she looked back up at the robot.

"Alright. Come on it. Just….don't break anything."

"Thank you." Omega stepped through the entry way of the house with his gears turning loudly.

The three of them walked back to the dining room where everyone now had their eyesight locked on the big robot that was in there with them. Shadow calmly took his seat and Tikal leaned her head closer to him as Omega stood right behind them.

"Shadow? Who is that?" she asked a bit nervous.

"Oh. Tikal, this is E-123 Omega. He used to be one of Eggman's robots. But he turned and now he works at GUN with me and Rouge."

"The three of us are actually on a team together called, Team Dark." Rouge finished.

"Oh." Tikal smiled at the robot. "Nice to meet you. I'm Tikal."

Omega just stared at Tikal with those red light bulb eyes of his. And Vanilla took her seat. And what was wrong with that particular seat, it was right next to Shadow. And the black and red hedgehog knew exactly why she was hesitating in sitting down.

"Look," here came the I'm sorry speech. "I apologize for how that whole thing went down a few months ago. I shouldn't have told you that story and I'm really sorry for what I did to you."

Vanilla was still a bit uneasy with Shadow, but hearing him apologize made it a little better. He had a girlfriend now. So he had to be a little less violent.

"Apology accepted, Shadow."

She took her seat next to the hedgehog and then Amy had a question.

"Alright. So who's going to carve the turkey?"

"I think Shadow should it." Vanilla said as she smiled at him.

"Really? Why?" he asked.

"Because you've done a lot in the past few months. I think you should do it. Go on."

"Plus he's probably had more experience with knives then the rest of us." Knuckles remarked.

Rouge elbowed the red echidna in the arm. Shadow looked at the turkey and ten back at the adult rabbit.

"If you insist."

He grabbed a giant knife out of Amy's hand and then stuck it into the turkey. He started to cut right down the middle. But halfway through, he stopped. And then he tried to pull the knife out. But it wouldn't budge.

"Ah damn. Knife's stuck."

Then he began to move the knife around trying to pry it loose. Then Vanilla stared timidly at Shadow's hand as he made those movements. He was twisting the knife inside the turkey all around. In and out, side to side, up over and around, he moved that knife everywhere inside the turkey as if he was trying to dig out a lung. And then one movement later, juices started to leak out of the turkey. Ten seconds later, he finally got it loose. And then everyone heard a thud. Vanilla had passed out and fell backwards.

"Momma?" Cream murmured trying to see if she was alright.

Tikal waved her hand in front of the rabbit's face. There was nothing but the rising and lowering of her chest to signify she was still breathing.

"Uh…did I do that?" Shadow asked everyone.

"I'd say it's a good guess." Blaze answered for him.

"Omega, take Miss Vanilla into the living room and lay her on the couch. Gently." Rouge commanded the robot.

"Acknowledged." Omega leaned over, picked up Vanilla, and walked into the living room leaving everyone else to eat.

This time around, Shadow had no trouble with the turkey he now considered to be a bit of an ass. He cut an equal share of that giant bird for everyone to share and then he grabbed a slab for his own.

To everyone else, Christmas was great. But there was one person out of all them who was brand new to it. Tikal was new to every custom in this time. And Christmas was the one most recent for her. And she was loving it. She considered it a great time for friends and family to be together. The whole gift gettingthing was a bit confusing for her, But Shadow helped her out in that department.

Tikal was really happy with Shadow. But none of the other girls Amy set Shadow up with didn't have a clue as to why. For instance, she was in the mall the other day shopping with Shadow, and she saw this yellow mongoose with purple hair named Mina. And when she saw Shadow there with a girl, she actually ran up to Tikal and tried to warn her off about him thinking it was only their first date. But when Tikal explained to Mina that she and Shadow had actually been a couple for some time, Mina was completely shocked. It was hard to tell if she was either happy for Shadow or just simply thought Tikal was out of her mind for being with him. She just walked off without another word.

But enough about that. This story is supposed to be about Sonic and Amy. Not Shadow and Tikal. That was the last one.

All throughout dinner, Amy had her eyes locked on Sonic the whole time. And as for Sonic, he was trying his best not to notice she was looking at him. But it was kind of hard not to. Her jade eyes were locked on to his lighter emerald ones. All her life she ached to get his heart. And now she hoped this year her prayers would be answered and a Christmas miracle would give to her with a big ribbon added on to it.

And as for Sonic, his feelings towards Amy were actually believe it or not beginning to change. Ever since the whole dating thing started up with them, Sonic had begun to see a side of Amy he had never seen before. This side was a mature and sophisticated young woman who was a very big romantic. The side he was more familiar with was the fangirl/stalker side. But that side of her was starting to fade away as he found the side he actually felt more comfortable around.

After everyone was finished, they gave their compliments to Amy on how great it all tasted and put their dishes in the sink. Tikal and Blaze volunteered to give Amy some help washing the dishes since Vanilla was now out cold on the couch. As they cleaned everything off. The three girls chatted with each other.

"So Blaze, are you expecting there to be a special gift from Silver?" Amy asked the lilac pyrokinetic.

Blaze looked down at her feet.

"To be honest Amy, I'm not sure. He's been really quiet for the past two weeks and he hasn't said anything about a gift."

"Well maybe he's keeping it a secret. He HAS to give you something." Amy said.

"Wait. Why does Silver have to get something special for Blaze?" Tikal asked not grasping the point quite yet.

"Usually its customary for a guy to give his girlfriend something really special on Christmas. But that only applies to men who are in a relationship." Blaze explained to the echidna.

"I wonder if Shadow did that for me." Tikal said now with a little hope that he did.

"And Amy's probably think Sonic actually did it for her." Blaze said assuming that Amy and Sonic weren't official.

"Hey! Me and Sonic have been on three dates. And this party is the fourth one. He's here as my date."

Blaze rubbed her forehead.

"Amy, I don't think it counts as a date when he just comes over to your house. It's a party. A lot of people came to it. Does that mean you're dating everyone else here too?"

That was of course an argument against Amy's logic. But the pink hedgehog always had a counter.

"Say what you want, Blaze. But Sonic and I have been closer than ever the past few days and I have a feeling tonight he and I WILL become boyfriend and girlfriend."

Blaze shrugged at the response and then continued working on the dirty dishes. Ten minutes later, they had finally finished and then it was time for karaoke.

Tikal was a bit uncomfortable singing in front of other people. So she sat out. As did Shadow, Rouge, Knuckles, Omega, Espio, Charmy, Silver and Blaze. It was funny. As much as karaoke was looked forward to, not a lot of people did it. Probably because most people were hoping someone would be just funny to laugh at while they attempted to sing but really couldn't. Even though Tails sung last year, he decided not to this year. No one knew why. That only left Cream, Amy, Sonic, and Vector to sing. Vanilla was still passed out on the couch so she was out.

Cream went first and sung Santa Claus is Coming to Town just like she said she would. And she wasn't bad. That high-pitched voice of hers could really sing. Something Tails was fond of. Then Vector went up next and sang Jingle Bell Rock. Or at least he tried. THIS is why people looked forward to karaoke. Vector, although a big time lover of music, couldn't sing to save his life. But lucky for him his very loud and off tone voice drowned out the laughter that came from almost everyone in the room. When he finally stopped singing, everyone was smiling. And the croc actually thought they enjoyed him sing. But really they were trust trying to hold back their laughter so he wouldn't get offended. Amy was up third and she did a very nice rendition of Silent Night.

This was a new tidbit of info for Sonic. Amy had the voice of an angel when she sung. Every word that escaped her mouth sounded great. Her singing voice entranced Sonic to every degree. He was kind of disappointed when she had to end the song.

And then it was Sonic's turn. He went up in front of everyone, grabbed the microphone, and looked at everyone watching him.

"Well….I wasn't really sure what to sing tonight. And everyone knows what last year lead to when I sung something." Sonic eyed Knuckles and Rouge when he said that. "So….this year I'm just going to sing a normal holiday song in hopes of reminding everyone what the holidays are all about. And look at that. Miss Vanilla is awake."

Everyone turned around and saw that Vanilla had indeed woken up with her hand rubbing her forehead.

Sonic nodded at Tails as his cue to start up the song. The kitsune pressed a few keys on his laptop and then a song started up. It was one that all of them knew. And to a few girls, it was a tearjerker.

**(Song: Christmas Shoes; By: Newsong)**

**It was almost Christmas time**

**And there I stood in another line**

**Trying to buy that last gift or two**

**Not really in the Christmas mood**

**Standing right in front of me**

**Was a little boy waiting anxiously**

**Pacing around like little boys do**

**And in his hands he held a pair of shoes**

**And his clothes were worn and old**

**He was dirty from head to toe**

**And when it came his time to pay**

**I couldn't believe what I heard him say**

**Sir I wanna buy these shoes**

**For my Mama please**

**It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size**

**Could you hurry, sir?**

**Daddy says there's not much time**

**You see, she's been sick for quite a while**

**And I know these shoes will make her smile**

**And I want her to look beautiful**

**If Mama meets Jesus tonight**

Everyone was neither smiling nor frowning. This song was actually getting the point across like Sonic wanted it to. Christmas a very special time to be together with friends and family together in a time that was truly magical. And you never really know how much time you got left. And Christmas always seems to go by fast. So you have to cherish those moments. Sonic went on and Amy actually shed a small tear.

**He counted pennies for what seemed like years**

**Then the cashier said, son there's not enough here**

**He searched his pockets frantically**

**Then he turned and he looked at me**

**He said, Mama made Christmas good at our house**

**Though most years she just did without**

**Tell me, Sir. What am I gonna do?**

**Somehow I've gotta buy her these Christmas shoes**

**So I laid the money down**

**I just had to help him out**

**And I'll never forget the look on his face**

**When he said, Mama's gonna look so great**

**Sir I wanna buy these shoes**

**For my Mama please**

**It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size**

**Could you hurry sir?**

**Daddy says there's not much time**

**You see, she's been sick for quite a while**

**And I know these shoes will make her smile**

**And I want her to look beautiful**

**If Mama meets Jesus tonight**

**I knew I caught a glimpse of heaven's love as he thanked me and ran out**

**I knew that God had sent that little boy to remind me**

**What Christmas is all about**

Every single female there was feeling the sadness of the song. And Cream was hugging her mother very tightly. For that small young rabbit, her mother meant everything to her. And to hear a song about a young boy's mother terminally ill on Christmas Eve made her very thankful that Vanilla was perfectly fine and not going anywhere.

Then the song went on and then another voice, a bit higher than Sonic's started in.

**Sir I wanna buy these shoes**

**For my Mama please**

**It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size**

Everyone followed that voice to see that Tails had grabbed another mike and joined Sonic on stage. The two brothers smiled at each other and then they both sung together.

**Could you hurry sir?**

**Daddy says there's not much time**

**You see, she's been sick for quite a while**

**And I know these shoes will make her smile**

**And I want her to look beautiful**

**If Mama meets Jesus tonight**

The music softened up and then Tails took the last verse

**I want her to look beautiful**

**If Mama meets Jesus tonight**

The background music faded away and the song ended. When Sonic and Tails looked at out at their audience, it was just how they thought it would be. The girls trying their best to hold back their tears and the guys with straight faces.

Knuckles looked to the left to see his girlfriend, to even his own surprise, wiping her right eye clean of a little droplet of water.

"No way. We're you…"

Rouge held up her hand to cut him off.

"It wasn't because the song was touching. Alright? That open fire is giving off a lot of smoke it makes my eyes watery."

Everyone knew that excuse wasn't well thought up. There was an open fire in Amy's fireplace. But there was no smoke coming from it. Knuckles looked at Rouge with a face that obviously wasn't convinced.

"You wanna try again?"

Rouge gave a defeated look and turned her back on Knuckles with her arms crossed.

"Oh come on, Rouge. You know I was just kidding. Besides, I wouldn't want to get you angry on our anniversary."

Rouge opened her eyes back up when she heard that last word. She turned around to see Knuckles holding a rectangle black box with a small silver bow on it. He handed it to Rouge.

"I thought I might be a good Christmas/1-Year-Anniversary gift." Knuckles said.

When Rouge opened the box all the way, her eyelids did the same. In that box was a very lovely bracelet encrusted in diamonds. Real diamonds. Immediately, the bat took off her right glove and tried the bracelet on. It fit perfectly.

"Oh Knuckie. It's gorgeous." She whispered.

"Merry Anniversary, Rouge." Knuckles said back.

Rouge actually gave a slight chuckle at the combination of the two famous phrases Merry Christmas and Happy Anniversary. Then she pulled the red hunk of muscle in so her lips made a very tight connection with hers.

Knuckles easily fell into the kiss and everyone smiled upon the sight. But when Charmy's head took a look around, he noticed an absence.

"Hey, Espio? Where's Shadow and Tiki?" he asked not really knowing her name yet.

Espio looked around and noticed too. Shadow and Tikal weren't in the room. But they were a minute ago.

"I don't know, Charmy. And her name isn't Tiki. It's Tikal." The chameleon corrected.

"I'll go look for them." Amy walked out of the room.

She first checked the downstairs and saw that the two weren't there. We're they in the backyard making out or something? She checked. No they were not. Then she went upstairs and halfway up, she heard a sound. And it sounded like uncontrollable sobbing coming from a delicate female.

Did…did the song really make Tikal THAT sad?

When she got up there, she saw Shadow at the bathroom door trying to persuade Tikal to stop crying and unlock it.

"Come on, Tikal. It's only a song at a party. Not a prayer at a funeral for crying out loud." Shadow said a bit sternly.

Then he saw Amy walk over.

"Sonic just HAD to make her cry didn't he?" he snapped at her.

"What does THAT mean?" Amy asked a bit cross.

"You guys don't know this about Tikal. She's very VERY sensitive about some stuff. If she get's sad enough she'll cry for God knows how long. Last week she saw this commercial about breast cancer or something, she wept for at least an hour. If not longer. I wasn't really paying attention to the clock."

Well that was new. Amy thought Tikal was a bit stronger than that. A song made her cry THIS hard? Wow.

"Let me try. Females have this connection." Amy went to the door and knocked on it. "Tikal? Are you alright?"

"I'm *SNIFF* I'm fine, Amy." Tikal tried to stop crying to answer her.

"Tikal. It's only a song." Amy said agreeing with Shadow.

"Yeah. But it really touched me. You know?"

"So a song got to you. That doesn't mean you cry your eyes out at a party. Not even Cream was showing as much tears as you are."

"It's about a young boy who lost his mother. I never knew mine!"

Oh. The two hedgehogs realized that there was a deeper connection to all this now.

"This holiday of yours…it's absolutely wonderful. I only wish my mother and father were here to celebrate with me." Tikal started crying again.

But Amy had to help her out. This was a party. And one for Christmas. She had to help her friend enjoy it.

"Tikal, listen to me. I know how it feels to not know your mother. And as we all know, Shadow doesn't HAVE a mother. But….you still have all your friends downstairs who love you like a sister."

"She's right." Shadow moved Amy aside and took over. "And I love you more than anything else in this world. There's no one else I would rather spend Christmas with than you. Please come out." He reached behind his back and out of nowhere he had a small box in his hand. "Besides, I got you a special something."

Five seconds later, the door unlocked and Tikal finally came out. But her face was still a little wet. But it was hardly seeable.

Then Shadow handed the box to Tikal and she opened it. Shadow had gotten her a custom made tiara the same size as the one she always wore on her head. But this one was silver and there was a one inch wide round aquamarine in the middle of it. She took off the gold one she usually wore and replaced with the new one.

"So? How do I look?"

Shadow smiled at her and placed a hand on her soft muzzle.

"No matter how you dress yourself, you'll always be beautiful."

That got Tikal smiling again. Then she and Shadow began to share a deep passionate kiss right in front of Amy.

Now even though Amy was happy that her friends were happy, she was also a bit upset. Two couples in her house were now making out because they received a special gift from their special someone. Now she was starting to think she was going to be the only one not getting anything special herself. She left Shadow and Tikal upstairs to finish up. But when she got downstairs, things got worse. Now Silver and Blaze were making out.

Wanting to know the scoop, she walked over to Espio.

"Alright. What did I miss?" she asked not really sure if she wanted to know.

"Silver got Blaze a pair of diamond earrings with the diamonds custom cut in the shape of flames. She really liked them." Espio answered.

Amy looked at Blaze's ears. The cat had already put them on and they were stunningly pretty on her. All around her, her friends were locking lips. Knuckles and Rouge didn't even stop making out in the time she had gone upstairs to check on Tikal. Then before she even knew it, Cream walked over to Tails and began to talk.

"Tails? Why did you sing? I thought you said you decided not to."

Tails put his hands behind his back and looked right into those big brown eyes of hers again.

"Because of you."

That answer made Cream blush an extreme shade of red Tails easily noticed.

"Because of me?"

"Yeah. I said to myself while you were up there, If Cream has the courage to get up there, I can to."

Whoa. Cream actually gave courage to Tails? She thought HE was the brave one considering how many times he's taken down Eggman alongside Sonic. Apparently singing in front of an audience and saving the world are two very different things when it comes to having guts. Now the blush on Cream's face was gone and it was replaced with a very big smile.

"That's so sweet of you to say." She said as she got on her tip-toes and gave the kitsune a peck on the left cheek.

Now Tails was the one blushing as Cream skipped away. Gently and slowly the young fox ungloved his left hand and touched his cheek with it.

"_I'm never washing my face again."_

Feeling as if he needed nothing else for Christmas since he got what he had wanted for a long time now, Tails walked away calmly. But inside his head, he was having a party of his own.

Amy witnessed the whole thing. Everyone around her was getting kissed. When was it her turn? And how does Sonic feel about all this? She got that answer when she looked over and saw the blue hedgehog scarfing away at the chili dog platter.

"_Of course he's oblivious. Why want to kiss someone would you could suck down a whole pate of meat instead?"_

Obviously upset, Amy walked over to Sonic to make sure he actually did know what was going on. When she reached him, the plate that had nearly a few dozen chili dogs was completely empty.

"_Geez. Where does he put it all?"_

As sonic licked his fingers of any residue flavor that may have caught on to his gloves, he finally noticed Amy was right there next to him. And she had a frown on her face.

"Why so down, Ames? It's Christmas." He said trying to lighten her mood.

That voice of his always managed her to smile just a little bit. But soon she frowned again.

"Look around, Sonic. Do you notice anything? Particularly Knuckles and Rouge? And Silver and Blaze?"

"Huh?"

Deciding to find out what she was talking about, Sonic looked at both couples and took notice of what they were doing.

"So they're kissing. Why not. They're couples after all. Aren't they?"

"I know but…..it's not just them." Amy replied. "Shadow and Tikal are upstairs doing the same and Cream even kissed Tails on the cheek."

Sonic bugged his eyes out after he heard about Tails and Cream.

"That's good right? It means that what you and I did earlier actually paid off. We did it."

"Yeah I'm happy for them. But….I don't know. I guess all this romance happening all around me…makes me feel….left out a bit I guess. I know that's kinda selfish, but it's the truth."

Sonic first frowned at Amy feeling sorry for her, then smirked. He figured now was the time to do what he originally came to her house to do in the first place.

He grabbed the girl's hand and she immediately went wide-eyed herself.

"_He's touching my hand. Be still my beating heart!"_

When she looked up at his face, she saw that ever so popular smile of his.

"Amy, grab your jacket. Let's take a walk. Just you and me."

After coming back to reality, Amy nodded and grabbed her pink jacket while Sonic grabbed his brown one. The two of them were able to sneak away out the front door without anyone else noticing.

Outside, there was a very light snowfall. Perfect weather for Christmas. Sonic and Amy were hand in hand much to the girl's delight. Ten minutes of walking went by and not one of them spoke a word. They just took in the scenery around and felt the cold nip their noses.

Amy was wondering what Sonic was up to. And her feet were starting to hurt from the walking plus the cold. So she stopped and in doing so, Sonic stopped too.

"Sonic, we should really go back. It's freezing out here and it's almost time to open presents."

Sonic smiled again.

"Listen, Ames. Those guys waited a whole year to open Christmas presents. They can wait a few minutes more." Then he reached into the pocked of his jacket. "But….this can't."

When he pulled his hand out, Amy followed it. And in his hand, was a small skinny rectangle box with a red ribbon wrapped around it. Amy could only guess what it was as Sonic held it out in front of her.

"These past few days have been really fun, Amy. And I thought you deserved something special this Christmas."

Amy thought she was dreaming. But this was no dream. If it WAS a dream, she would be mad beyond all reason when she woke up.

Slowly, she took the box out of Sonic's hands, untied the bow, and opened the box only to gasp at what Sonic's gift was.

Inside the box was a gorgeous pendant necklace. The chain was polished silver and the perfect size to fit around her neck. The pendant itself was a sterling silver rose about three quarters of an inch in diameter. And right in the middle of the rose, was a small red ruby.

Amy put her hand over her mouth and transitioned her line of sight back and forth from Sonic to the necklace. And then Sonic spoke again.

"Would you like for me to put it on you?"

Amy was still in shock and awe she had forgotten how to speak. So she nodded in response and Sonic took back the box to take the necklace out. Amy turned around and then Sonic brought his hands over her had with his fingers on both ends of the chain. As he put it around her neck, he said the next line.

"I picked this up for you that day we were shopping for Shadow and Tikal. When I saw it, I just had to get it. I thought two roses would go perfect together."

Sonic finished clipping the two ends to each other and Amy looked down at the pendant. When she turned around, Sonic saw that Amy's eyes were letting loose tears.

"Whoa. Did I do something wrong?" Sonic asked a bit scared.

Amy laughed softly while the tears kept coming.

"Sonic, people can cry when they're happy too." she said delicately.

This was new for Sonic. He only thought people cry when they're upset. He knew that from experience because often he made Amy cry in the past because of his rejection of her. But no more of that. He swore to never do that again.

"Well I'm glad the necklace made you happy. Because that's only part one of your gift."

What? Part one? How could something as beautiful as that necklace be just one part of something?

"Well then….what's part two?" Amy's eyes cleared up of tears as Sonic prepared the response.

"Me."

One word, two letters. And a million pounds of happiness just got dropped on Amy Rose. But in order to be certain, he had to let him finish.

"Amy, I wasn't sure I wanted to do this at first because I had some bad experiences in my time as a boyfriend. But now…I'm certain that I'm ready to give that another try. So….Amy Rose….will you be my girlfriend?"

Ten more letters. And it was probably her favorite word in the English language right now. Sonic was asking her to be his girlfriend. It was the Christmas miracle she had been hoping for. And there was only one answer she had in mind.

"Of course I will." She said on the verge of crying again.

"That's good." Sonic looked up hoping Amy would follow his movements.

And she did. The two of them were standing right in front of a tree. And there was a branch right above them. Hanging on that branch was a chunk of mistletoe.

When Amy looked back down at Sonic, she saw that he was going in for the shot. And Amy was allowing the target to be acquired. The two of them got closer, their eyes closed, and then a few seconds later, the full magic of the Christmas miracle did its work as their lips made contact with each other's for the first time.

They cold didn't even bother them anymore. All the two hedgehogs felt were the lips of the other's up against their own. They both then wrapped their arms around each other so they could squeeze even tighter. Amy's eyes were letting the tears go again, but not as heavily this time. She didn't want her tears to turn into icicles right now during her first kiss.

That kiss lasted about five minutes. They thought if they stayed connected for too much longer, their lips would get frozen together. After they parted, they only stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds before Amy broke the silence.

"So…should we head back? It's freezing out here."

Sonic smiled even more. Then he picked up Amy bridal style.

"Sure thing….honey."

Amy nearly squealed when he called her that word. As Sonic began to walk back to her house, Amy looked up at the mistletoe and thought of something. What was a mistletoe doing hung in such a random location. Unless….of course. Amy figured it out and looked at Sonic again.

"You hung that mistletoe there on your way to my house earlier. Didn't you?"

Sonic smiled and looked back the mistletoe.

"Maybe." He replied.

Amy smiled big. He had the whole thing planned out. And now she had a very long time to get to know the romantic side of Sonic the Hedgehog. Looking back at Amy, he smiled very softly.

"Merry Christmas, Amy."

"Merry Christmas, Sonikku."

The two of them kissed again and Sonic continued walking. When they got back, the rest of the party went smoothly. Everyone got a lot of wonderful presents from everyone, but for some people, they had already gotten their best gifts beforehand. When everyone went home, Sonic had offered to stay over and spend the night with Amy.

And they did. They fell asleep together on the couch with Amy' head on Sonic's shoulder. It was the perfect Christmas for them.

But this was only Christmas. There was still a whole lot more to come even after the holiday.

**Wow. I thought I would never get this done. But I'm happy that I did and I'm proud of it. With all the thought I put into this thing, I'm think it could actually be a Holiday special on TV. But that's just me talking.**

**I hope everyone enjoyed this from beginning to end. And if you're in the mood for more Holiday Cheer from AK, check out my other story, I Saw Knuckles Kissin' Rouge the Bat.**

**So from me, all the AutoKnights, and everyone else here, this is AK wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful Holiday season. See ya!**


	8. Working Hard to Get My Fill

**I only own the plot of this story and none of the characters being used. So enjoy this chapter everyone!**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 8: Working Hard To Get My Fill  
**

The next few weeks went by fast for everyone. New Years was a blast for the group. They had a party over on Angel Island hosted by Knuckles and Rouge. When it hit midnight, everyone cheered and Blaze shot a wave of fireballs in the air for fireworks. It was a fun way to bring in the new year. Everyone was happy, cheering when the clock struck 12:00 AM, it was fun. But Sonic and Amy were the only ones not cheering. No. They were too busy making out with each other to even notice what time it was because it was the furthest thing from their minds.

This is how it's been for the past weeks for Sonic and Amy. They date, they kiss, it was the whole romance shebang. Sonic was slowly starting to get used to that feeling of being a boyfriend again. But he was still a good one. He still knew how to be a good boyfriend. And as for Amy, well….needless to say she was loving every bit of it. She finally had Sonic officially in her love life and she was his girlfriend. She couldn't possibly ask for anything else because she wanted nothing else. She had a big blue hunk of man. What more could a girl like her need?

She was thinking that very thing one night as she lay in her bed slowly drifting off to sleep with snow softly hitting her window outside. She and Sonic had been on a lot of dates since that wonderful Christmas Eve. But to her, none of them even came romantically close as that one winter night. Sonic hung mistletoe for Amy. And she got that beautiful rose necklace from him. She never took it off. She wore it everywhere. In the shower, to bed, everywhere. For her, the only thing that could have made that Christmas Eve even more romantic was if Sonic said those three words to her. One of them being the "L" word.

Sure as time went on, Sonic was feeling closer to Amy than even thought was possible. But he wasn't exactly sure of what he was feeling or the girl. Sure they were boyfriend and girlfriend, of course. But saying "I love you" to someone takes that relationship to a whole new level that he wasn't sure he was ready for. Not yet at least. The last girl he said those three words to ended up slapping him in the face. Heck, Sonic dated no one in between the time he broke up with Sally and got with Amy. And that was a two year gap. Sonic was taking things slow. Not getting too involved until he knows for sure what he wants with Amy.

And Amy knew that perfectly well and she had to understand. But she also wanted to help him feel more comfortable around her in the terms of romance and lovey-dovey stuff like that. As she turned in her bed and looked out her window to the dark snow filled sky, she began to think.

"_Sonic's a GREAT boyfriend. But what I can do to help him be more calm around me? Maybe….maybe he just needs to see one of his friends in action. YES! That's it! If Sonic sees one of his friends act cool around his girlfriend, maybe he will too. But then…how do I make that happen?"_

Amy always thought about Sonic and what was good for him. When the whole thing with them first started, Sonic was as cool as a cucumber. But two weeks into the relastionship, that's when Sonic started showing signs of uneasiness. It was like the ghosts of his romantic past were starting to haunt him again and warn him off. And there was only one ghost. Sally. And Amy knew she had to put a stop to that. And that's when she came up with her plan.

"_That's it! That's it! If Sonic sees Silver or someone being sweet around their girl, he'll be more comfortable in this relationship."_

With her plan formulated, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep as the snow stopped falling.

When morning came around, Sonic was greeted by the sun shining through his window and the light hitting his eyes. He squinted and then moved to a position where the light was no bother. And then he turned around, sat up, put on his shoes, and walked into his kitchen. He opened the fridge and sure enough, that hedgehog pulled out a plate with a couple of chili dogs on it. He placed them in the microwave and let them cook for a bit before he literally swallowed them whole.

As much as chili dogs were a delight to the hedgehog, there was only one thing on his mind. And that was Amy. He knew he was starting to back off. He was trying his best to go slow. Perhaps at times it seemed like he was trying too hard to make that happen. Amy is the kind of girl who likes to be surrounded by romance. And Sonic was entirely sure he had enough romance in his fur to keep her happy. But if he makes a few wrong moves, it might be the whole Sally thing all over again. The hand print from that slap didn't come off his muzzle for a few days it was so hard.

And Sonic knew perfectly well how hard Amy could hit. Only she wouldn't use her hand, she'd use that giant hammer of hers. That still scared the crap out of him.

Then there was the whole "I love you" thing. Sonic felt that when he said it to Sally, that it was too soon and that was what maybe caused the whole thing to fall apart. If not it was a benefactor to the situation. Sonic was comparing his relationship with Amy to the one he had with Sally way too much. And he had to stop that. If he keeps it up, Amy might think he still has romantic feelings for the squirrel. Which he certainly doesn't. Not anymore. He was Amy's guy now. It wasn't something he ever expected would happen in this lifetime, but apparently destiny works in funny ways.

Also, Sonic was waiting for the right time to say those three words to Amy. A time when he felt nothing but love for her. And he wanted it to be perfect. Perfect place, perfect time, perfect setting. She deserved it. Any girlfriend of Sonic the Hedgehog deserves nothing but the pest treatment. That was his philosophy anyway.

*RING RING*

The sound alerting Sonic of a phone call was enough to break him free of his thoughts for now. He walked over to the phone and picked it up assuming he knew exactly who it was.

"Hey, Ames. Wassup?"

His assumption was correct. It was his girlfriend on the other side of the call.

"Oh nothing really. I was just wondering if you wanted to do anything today."

A date. What better way to get his mind clear than that? Right?

"You know what? Why not? I'm doing anything. Are you doing anything?"

"If I was I wouldn't be asking you out right now. Would I?"

"Very funny." Sonic said with a chuckle. "So where do you want to go?"

"I was kinda thinking Twinkle Park."

Twinkle Park? That was a kids place. Why would Amy want to go there?

"_Ah. Girls tend to have that childish side to them that still loves amusement parks. Especially Amy. He he. Alright then."_

"Sure. Twinkle Park it is then. What time?"

"Noon. Today. I'll meet you there."

"See ya then."

"Bye, Sonikku!"

The two hung up. But Amy didn't put down her phone just yet. She had to call one of her friends who was in a couple. That was the other part of her plan. And she had three hours in which to do it. And that put three couples on the list. Tails and Cream didn't count.

And yes. Since the party, Tails and Cream had become closer friends than before. But the young kitsune was struggling to ask her out. He would probably have to ask Vanilla first due to their single digit age. But Sonic was working on that with him.

But then Amy began to think which couple she should ask to come with for her plan to work out. The reason she didn't tell Sonic about this in the first place was because he thought he would probably say no. So she kept that a secret for now. Better to tell him when he's there and there's no turning back. That was what Amy thought at least. She tried calling Silver and Blaze first. But Silver said he and Blaze already had plans to go and see a movie. So Amy was zero for one. Next she called Knuckles and Rouge. And that made it zero for two. Knuckles said Rouge had caught a cold and he was stuck taking care of her until she got better. And that left one more couple on Amy's list left to call. She knew Sonic wasn't really going to like this one, but there was no other way. A dark voice came onto her phone in the form of an answering machine.

"Hello. You have reached Shadow the Hedgehog and Tikal the Echidna. Tikal would be sorry for missing your call and would ask you to please leave a message after the beep. I really don't care but you might as well."

*BEEP*

Amy sighed. Of course Shadow would have an answering machine with a message like that. She left her own message telling the two of her plan to go to Twinkle Park. Then she hung up the phone. Now all she could do was wait the next three hours for a response.

As for Sonic, all he did in that time was relax around his house. He figured at least half an hour until noon he would take off for the park. In the meantime he just napped. It was pretty much what he did. On his free time, he napped. That was pretty much it. With the occasional break for chili dogs. That guy was an addict to those things. Knuckles even suggested putting Sonic into some sort of program to help Sonic get over his addiction to the dogs.

At 11:30, Sonic grabbed his jacket and opened the door. It was a sunny blue sky and there wasn't a cloud in the air. The snow last night left a few inches of the stuff everywhere on the ground. It was a beautiful sight. Just for the heck of it, Sonic went back inside, grabbed his camera, and took a few pictures of the scene outside his house. When he was about to go put it back, he re-thought that idea with another one.

"_I've never gotten any good pictures of Amy."_

He looked down at his camera. A small, blue, Nikon camera with a great lens for pics.

"_I hope she's not one of those camera shy girls."_

With a smile, he put the camera in its case, and stuffed it into the inside pocket of his coat. Then he put on some ski goggles over his eyes, and took off full speed for Twinkle Park. It took him about ten minutes to get there due to red lights. Yes. When he was in the city, Sonic stopped for red lights. He may be the guy who saves the world, but he's not above the law.

When he got there, he noticed there was quite a line to get in. He looked around for Amy, but while he did, his eye caught someone else. Someone he thought would never see in the line to get into Twinkle Park.

It was Shadow. And thankfully, Tikal was there too. If she wasn't, it would be pretty weird. Wanting to know why he was there, Sonic walked over to him.

"Hey, Shadow!"

Shadow looked over at Sonic with a scowl.

"Faker." He greeted.

"Hi, Sonic." Tikal waved at the blue one.

"Hey there, Tikal." Sonic waved back when he got up to them. "So, what brings you guys to Twinkle Park?"

Shadow eyed him strangely.

"We thought you already knew that."

Now Sonic got confused and his face clearly showed it.

"Huh?"

Tikal began to explain as the line moved forward a bit.

"Amy called us a few hours ago right as me and Shadow walked through door of our house. We just got back from grocery shopping and we heard her message. She invited us to come out here with the two of you. So we called her back and agreed to come."

Sonic's level of confusion was near high. Why would Amy invite him first, and then call Shadow and Tikal and ask them to come too?

"Hey guys!"

He would get his answer soon enough. Because Amy had just walked up to them wearing her winter outfit.

"Amy, a word."

Sonic took Amy's hand and pulled her away from Shadow and Tikal until they were out of earshot.

"Would you mind telling me what Shadow and Tikal are doing here?"

"I thought it would be fun to have some friends with us. It's an amusement park after all. The more the merrier. Right?"

"Hard to say considering how emo Shadow can get at times."

"Hey. Go easy on him. You know he's gotten better with that."

Then Sonic got back to the point.

"I thought this was supposed to be a date. Why did you invite those two to come with?"

Amy thought he would've gotten it by himself by now.

"Sonic, this IS a date. It's a DOUBLE date."

And now another concept was being thrown into the brain of Sonic the Hedgehog. Never before had he heard of something called a "double date",

"What's a double date?"

"It's when two couples go somewhere together. People do it all the time. Silver and Blaze have done it with Knuckles and Rouge plenty of times."

"Why didn't you tell me that's what you wanted to do?"

"Because I thought you would say no." Then for a reason Amy didn't know, she told Sonic of her real intentions. "Sonic, I invited them because I want you back."

Back? What does she mean "back"?

"You already have me, Amy. You can't get something back if you never lost it in the first place. Right?"

"I mean you've been distant from me Sonic. We've been together for three weeks. The first two were unbelievable. But this last one, it feels like you're going away from me. And we haven't been together for that long."

Sonic sighed. He was really hoping she wouldn't bring that up.

"I know I have. And I'm sorry. But it's not your fault. I promise. I….I guess I kinda lost my touch on how to be a boyfriend."

"And that's why I invited Shadow and Tikal. I was thinking if you watched Shadow be sweet with Tikal, you'd remember what it's like to be like that yourself."

Sonic looked over at Shadow and then back at Amy with yet another confused face.

"So….just so I have my head wrapped around the whole plot of this setup, in order to help me with our distance issues, you set us up on a double date with my gun-crazy dark doppelganger and his girlfriend?"

Amy sighed and looked at Shadow herself. He was looking at a handgun that he had brought with him.

"Okay. He wasn't my first choice. Silver and Blaze already had other plans and Rouge is sick. So Knuckles has to take care of her. And don't even ask about Tails and Cream."

"Amy, for Mobius' sake, he brought a gun to Twinkle Park. This is supposed to be a kid friendly place!"

"Regardless, we're here with them. So let's just go and enjoy the day. Please? For me?"

Sonic looked back at Shadow. He put the gun back into his jacket and then he looked at Tikal. The two of them smiled at each other and put their arms around the other. Maybe Amy's plan wasn't entirely crazy after all. Shadow seemed to be a good boyfriend to Tikal.

"Alright. I'll do it. But if he ends up killing someone, don't say I told you so."

Amy playfully slapped his chest.

"I can assure you. He won't kill anyone. I'm not even sure there's anyone here he would even WANT to see dead."

"He tried to kill ME at a point."

"You are never going to let him live that one down, are you?"

The two of them wrapped up that conversation and then went back to the line with Shadow and Tikal. Now the reason Sonic was uncomfortable with all this, was because Amy called it a double date. That meant he was on a date with Amy, Tikal, AND Shadow. So in a kind of screwed up way, he was Shadow's date today. And that really freaked him out.

But if he thought THAT was freaky, he was in for a big surprise when he got back to his house today.

**The idea for Shadow's answering was originally thought up my XReaperBlade. He sent me that in a review so I decided to go with it. Thanks' Blade!**

**And if you guys want to know what's going to freak Sonic out later, you'll just have to wait and see in chapter ten. Yes. Chapter ten. Not nine. Chapter nine is going to be this whole double date thing.**

**So keep on reading and thanks to all of those who already have.**

**Oh and by the way, tomorrow's my birthday! So Happy birthday to me!**


	9. Everybody Wants a Thrill

**The first AK Sonamy chapter of 2011. Let's hope it's a good one. I only own the plot of this story and none of the characters. And thanks a lot to all of you who support me and this story. You guys rock!**

**And yes for those of you who wondered. Rouge being sick last chapter was indeed a reference to my other story, A Spy's Day Off. Which I'm happy to say now has 10,000 hits! Once again, thanks you guys.**

**Oh yeah. And I went back and changed all the chapter titles of this story. See if you can catch the gimmick.**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 9: Everybody Wants a Thrill**

Okay. So we got Twinkle Park here. A great place for all people who are looking for a great time. And today, Sonic, Shadow, Tikal, and Amy were all contributing to the happiness of the place. Well… Shadow not so much. We all know how he can be.

When they finally reached the booth to pay, Amy realized something. This was another dream of hers come true. She, nor anyone she was there with had to pay a cent to get in because of Twinkle Parks very famous motto.

"Cute couples get in free!"

The guy behind the booth gave them each an admission ticket and the four Mobians all passed through the gate and into the huge amusement park. Rides everywhere, food, drinks, sill toys you win in games, it was everything a theme park should be and then some. And Tikal, being new to it, was of course amazed.

"Everything looks so fun." The echidna said as she turned around in circles looking at her surroundings.

"Yeah. Just wait until you get further into it." Amy said back knowing the place like the back of her hand.

Sonic looked slightly down at his girlfriend.

"How many times have you been here before?"

"I come here with Cream and Cheese whenever Miss Vanilla asks me to babysit her." Amy responded. "And since Shadow put her into therapy, she's been asking me a lot more frequently."

Tikal first looked at Amy with confusion, and then at Shadow with the same expression.

"Why would Cream's mother be in therapy because of Shadow?"

The black hedgehog sweatdropped.

"It's a very long story."

Quickly trying to change the subject, Amy spoke up.

"So what do you guys wanna do first?" she asked all three of them.

"I'm up for whatever. As long as it's the least bit fast if you know what I mean." was Sonic's response.

Of course Sonic wanted to head for the roller coasters. If there was one thing he actually liked doing when he came to Twinkle Park, it was riding the rides. Sure they weren't as fast and as thrilling as him, but still, it was a nice break to not actually have to use his legs.

And then the faint sound of people screaming could be heard. And Tikal heard it too. She looked over her shoulder and saw a yellow colored rail. And then she saw a miniature train speed by with a whole bunch of people strapped into it. Curious to know what it was, she tugged the sleeve on Shadow's shoulder.

"Shadow, what's that?" she pointed to the track and Shadow followed her finger.

"It's called a roller coaster, Tikal. What it is, it's kind of like train. Instead goes up and down on this squiggly track. There are many of them in this place. A lot of people find them fun."

"Can we go on one?" Tikal asked now wanting to sample the experience.

But Shadow wasn't entirely sure about that. Tikal was still fairly new to this world. And sure he had made her go faster and higher than a roller coaster, but she hadn't felt all the twists and turns they can have.

"Are you sure you want to?" Shadow asked to be sure.

"Why not. It looks like fun." Tikal answered.

Shadow sighed. Oh well. If she really wanted to, why not?

"Alright. What about you two?" Shadow asked the other two hedgehogs.

"Of course." Amy answered for both she and Sonic.

Sonic only nodded in agreement and then the four of them went off to find the nearest roller coaster they could find. And it barely took them one minute for them to find one. There wasn't that much of a line so they were able to get on the next train that came along. It was four to a car and the four double dating Mobians all got into the one that was right up front. After everyone was locked in by the bar at their waist, the car slowly started to move. And then it began to slowly make the ascent up for the first big drop. As they got higher, Tikal looked to the right. She was still a bit scared of heights. But she had been higher. Shadow took her into space as Super Shadow. There was no higher than outer space. And then the car slowly leveled off, and then it pointed nearly straight down as the speed began to rapidly increase. And it was right there that Shadow learned a new fact about his girlfriend.

Tikal could scream. REALLY loud.

All throughout the ride, Tikal kept shrieking at every turn and every loop there was. Apparently she was not used to these kinds of maneuvers at all. Shadow thought she would have been fine with it. But then again, he never once made really sharp turns or loop de loops with her in his arms. So this was completely new for her.

As for Amy, she screamed a few times, but not as much as the echidna girl. Sonic and Shadow however, remained silent the whole time. They were used the stuff like this. They could probably even do a better job than the coaster by themselves. Heck, those two hedgehogs were such rivals they'd probably race each other on the track.

After a good two minutes worth of that, the train finally returned back to where it left. As Shadow stood up to get out, he noticed Tikal wasn't moving. To be sure she was alright, he gave her a nudge and thankfully she looked back at him. She wasn't scared or anything like that. She was holding both her head and her stomach at the same time.

Sonic actually had to help Shadow get her out of there and help walk her out into the open.

"You okay there, Tikal?" Sonic asked her.

Tikal found her legs again and stood by herself. But Shadow still kept one of his arms around her.

"That was something else." She muttered back in response. "But I feel really dizzy."

"Yeah. Roller coasters tend to do that." Shadow said as a bit of a late warning.

"Maybe we should stay clear of the big rides until you get used to some of the easier stuff first." Amy suggested.

"That sounds good to me." Tikal answered back with her stomach feeling better.

And then they continued on with their day. And Sonic began to officially do what Amy wanted him to do. Mostly through the hours, he had his eye on Shadow, hoping that watching him would help the blue one regain his touch at being an awesome boyfriend. Although Sally was still haunting him, he was with Amy now. And he had to make sure that she knew that one hundred percent.

But there were pros and cons with this plan. The pros were Shadow and Tikal had been together long enough to actually be a good enough example for Sonic to follow. But then there was the one and only con Sonic could find. And that con was Shadow.

This was Shadow the Hedgehog he was watching. His dark semi-evil doppelganger. Sonic had always tried his best to remain his exact opposite so he didn't end up being anything like him. But now Amy wanted Sonic to observe Shadow's behavior around Tikal. And Sonic found that really weird. For God's sake. The guy brought a gun to Twinkle Park! What kind of sick twisted mind does something like that? There are kids everywhere!

Amy was really hoping this would make Sonic hold her again like he did the first two weeks in their relationship. His arms so tight, his lips so tender on hers, she wanted it all back. But then her thoughts were immediately shifted as a bright flash temporarily blinded her. She looked to her right and saw that Sonic had his blue digital camera out looking at the screen.

"Hey. That's a good one." Sonic observed his work.

"Give me that!" Amy snatched the camera out of his hands and took a look for herself.

It retrospect, it wasn't a bad picture at all. Amy was looking slightly upwards at the sky with a slight breeze in her hair and a flat smile on her mouth. But she always took these things out of perspective.

"I look terrible!" she complained.

And of course Sonic expected the overreaction from her.

"What? Are you saying I'm a bad photographer?" he asked in a fake offended tone.

Amy scoffed and pointed to the picture.

"Couldn't you at least get me from my good side?" she said to him. "This picture of me is horrible!"

"No it's not." Sonic said flatly as he took back the camera before Amy could delete it.

"Oh yeah? And how do you figure?"

And then Sonic gave the best answer she could hear.

"Because it's impossible to take a bad picture of you."

Amy felt like she was going to melt. Already Sonic was starting to get that touch back. She could feel it. And then she gave a smile and then Sonic just had to take another picture of her. Which he immediately did. As the two looked at it, they both smiled at each other.

"Shadow? What is that thing Sonic keeps pointing at Amy?" Tikal asked her boyfriend.

Oh yeah. Shadow remembered right there. Tikal had never heard of the concept of taking a picture.

"It's called a camera Tikal. It's used for taking pictures of stuff." Shadow replied.

And just like Shadow predicted, that got the girl confused. And the face she made showed it. Immediately he began to explain.

"It's like this. There are a lot of moments you just want to capture and look at forever. Right?"

Tikal nodded of course understanding at least that.

"Well, that's what a camera is for. Here let me show you."

Shadow took the camera out of Sonic's hands and then pointed the lens right at Tikal.

"Smile." With that word, he pressed the button that snapped the photo.

Tikal gave a cute smile when Shadow told her to and then Shadow showed her the picture of her.

"Oh wow. That's really amazing." She murmured as she looked at the picture of herself.

The black hedgehog nodded in agreement and then handed the camera back to Sonic. Deciding it was a good picture himself, Sonic saved the picture of Tikal to the camera's memory and turned it off to conserve the battery life.

Wow. Sonic watched the little interaction with Shadow and Tikal. Those two really did go good together. Whenever Tikal needed help understanding something, Shadow was always there for her. Maybe Sonic COULD learn a thing or two from his so called, 'evil twin'.

Another hour went by and Sonic kept a close eye on the other couple. Their interaction with each other was very standard when it comes to couples. They kissed, held each other, and every so often they asked Sonic to take a photo of them. Of course Shadow didn't smile for them, but then again, when did he EVER smile?

After about a good two hours of time spent there, the four decided to get some food. Sonic and Shadow selected a table while Amy and Tikal went up to order the food. And while they did, the two girls engaged in conversation.

"So here's a question that's been bugging me for some time now." Amy started. "What's it like to live with Shadow?"

Tikal wasn't really sure why Amy would ask such a question, but she was able to give an answer nonetheless.

"It's really nice. It's just me and him all the time, the only place he goes without me is work, I couldn't ask for a better man than him."

But then Amy remembered something that might get Tikal a bit down. Shadow was the Ultimate Lifeform. He was created to be ageless. Which he was. He could live forever. And as for Tikal…

"Tikal, you do know Shadow is immortal. Right?"

Tikal nodded. "Yes. He told me. Why do you ask?"

"Well…I'm just saying because long after you're….gone, he might find someone else."

"Actually Amy, that's not a problem. Because I'm immortal too."

The green eyes on Amy bugged out to the max when she heard that little tidbit.

"What? How?"

"Oh. Being inside the Master Emerald for so long altered my genetics somehow. I'm ageless just like Shadow is." She looked over at the black and red hedgehog with a smile. "He and I can literally be together forever." She said sweetly.

Amy just had to smile. It was still a bit weird to now know Tikal is immortal, but that only made her even more the perfect girl for Shadow. She would never leave him. They could be together for hundreds of years and many more to come.

"That's so romantic." The pink hedgie murmured.

Tikal giggled and kept staring at Shadow.

"He's mine. I just hope we stay that way."

"A romance as strong as yours? Something like that is destined to last."

As the girls were talking, the two hedgehogs over at the table remained silent. There wasn't really a lot Sonic could take from just watching him sit there. But then Shadow brought out that handgun of his again. And that made Sonic back away from him a bit.

"Okay. Can you please tell me why the hell you have that with you?" Sonic demanded. "This is Twinkle Park for cryin' out loud! There aren't any terrorists here!"

Shadow sighed thinking Sonic was just overreacting.

"Keep your shoes on." Shadow told him as he put the gun back in his coat. "GUN requires all of their field agents to carry with them a concealed weapon at all times. It's not by choice. It's just protocol."

That made a wave of relief wash over Sonic. He didn't bring it because he wanted to, he was just doing his job. He could live with that. But then he thought of something.

"But Rouge doesn't carry one."

That made Shadow sweatdrop. But he just had to tell this.

"Oh yes she does."

Shadow always had a knack for making Sonic confused.

"What do you mean? I've never seen Rouge with a gun in her hands."

"Oh she rarely uses it but she has it on her. Always does."

"But where does she keep it hidden?"

Shadow paused right there and looked at Sonic awkwardly.

"She has it….well uh…..uh…"

He never got tongue tied before.

"What's wrong?"

Shadow decided to not answer in words. Instead he opened up his hands and then he held them up in front of his chest. His fingers curled to make it look like he was grabbing something. And then when he made it look like he was lifting something up and down from his chest, Sonic got the message. His emerald green orbs were fully showing and his jaw dropped.

"No f***ing way."

Realizing he got his message through, Shadow put his hands back down and nodded with a, 'mm-hm."

Sonic was completely shocked.

"You mean she keeps her gun in between her…?"

"Yep." Shadow finished for him.

Maybe that was a little too much information for Sonic. She knew Rouge had a more developed body than most girls he's met, but he didn't think her breasts were THAT big.

"How do you even know she keeps it there?" Sonic asked a little afraid of what the answer might be.

"I work with her. I've seen her reach down there and actually take a while to grab it." Shadow responded.

Despite this conversation being extremely dirty and having nothing to do with becoming a better boyfriend for Amy, Sonic was strangely starting to like where this conversation was going.

"You gotta admit." Sonic looked ahead imagining them in his head. "They are big."

Shadow began to do the same thing.

"Mobian cup size 42-D to be exact."

And once again, Sonic was concerned for his friend.

"Okay. How the hell do you know how big Rouge's breasts are?"

"It's on her medical file at GUN."

"Okay. New question. Why were you looking at her medical file?"

"There was nothing else to do. Eggman's been quiet lately and it gets boring around the office."

"So you look at everyone's personal files to pass by the time?"

"It's actually a good way to get to know people without actually talking to them. Just last week I found out this guy who I work with has schizophrenia. It was then I finally understood why he always pulled his gun on the toaster in the break room."

Sonic was about to ask why the hell GUN let's a schizophrenic work there, but he finally got enough sense to stop himself from doing so. Then Shadow got back to the topic they were at.

"But you're right. Rouge's knockers ARE big."

The two of them smirked very strangely while looking up at the sky imagining them again. And then to make things weird, they didn't even notice they're girlfriends walk up and notice them with those strange faces. They followed their eyes and looked up too.

"What are you guys looking at?" Amy asked.

The two hedgehogs jumped up in their seats a bit not expecting them to be right over their shoulders.

"Uh….I thought I saw Eggman." Was the only answer Sonic could think of.

But Amy didn't fully buy it.

"If you thought you saw Eggman, why were you smiling?"

Sonic was out of ammo. And then Amy asked another question.

"What were you two talking about?"

Sonic gave a small chuckle.

"Oh just…guy stuff. What were you and Tikal talking about."

Amy shrugged.

"Girl stuff I guess. We got the food."

Thankfully for Sonic, Amy dropped the subject and then all four of them began to eat. Amy had gotten her and Sonic both two chili dogs each. Amy ordered hers with a little less cheese. Shadow and Tikal shared a small tub of popcorn. The two of them went back and forth popping small pieces into the others mouth.

After they finished eating, they got up to go off and do some more stuff.

"So now what should we do?" Tikal asked wanting someone else's opinion.

"Well I was thinking…" Amy stopped short when she heard something. "Oh my God."

She slowly turned to the left and saw a small building in the middle of an open area of the park. There was a sign on the front of it that read, "Glee Karaoke."

"Oh my God! I LOVE Glee!"

And yes. Amy was indeed a fanatic about that new musical show on FOX. It was called Glee. Before anyone else could say a word, Amy rushed off for the small building as the other three wound up following her.

Amy stopped right in front of the door and then looked back at Sonic.

"Oh Sonic! Let's sing. You and me together."

That was a suggestion Sonic was not really on board with.

"I don't think so, Amy."

"Oh come on. You've been watching Glee with me ever since we got together. I even showed you all of season 1 on DVD! Remember?"

Oh how Sonic remembered that. Sure Glee was an entertaining show and all, but to watch it episode after episode for hours on end, it was a bit much.

"Yes I remember." Sonic bitterly answered.

Shadow just looked at Sonic with a whole new opinion of him.

"You watch Glee now?" he asked almost ready to laugh.

"You tell anyone, especially Tails, and I'll tell Rouge you went through her file." Sonic threatened.

That immediately made Shadow shut up. As much as he found Rouge annoying, he knew how angry she could get. And if she found out he went through her personal information, work would probably become a living hell.

"I'm not sure, Amy."

"Oh come on, Sonic. You sang at my Christmas party."

"Yeah but me singing is only a one time thing per year. At your party. I kinda made that a rule"

"Please Sonikku? Just one song. Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaassseeee?"

Amy made the cutest eyes she could make and then made her bottom lip tremble a bit. It didn't take a genius to know she had gotten that little trick from Cream. And it worked. Every. Stinkin. Time. Being cute and knowing you're cute is a very dangerous combination.

"Fine. One song and that's it." Sonic gave in.

"Great!" Amy grabbed his hand and pulled him into the building while Shadow and Tikal followed them in.

The inside of the place was kind of like a theatre. There were multiple seat sections and a small stage. Shadow and Tikal took part in the medium sized audience while Sonic and Amy went over to sign themselves up to sing. After they did, they had to select a song to choose. Amy chose for them already having one in mind.

It took a few minutes and a few more performances before Sonic and Amy got their turn. And to only make things stranger, Vector turned out to be one of the people in front of the two hedgehogs. He sang, or at least tried to, his own version of Shout It Out Loud. Espio and Charmy were there in the audience hoping that no one would be able to connect them to the tone deaf croc. Shadow just couldn't let an opportunity like this pass. He took out his GUN issued smartphone, and started to record Vector try to sing a KISS song. When he finally ended, Shadow then uploaded that video to Youtube.

That video got 100,000 hits in less than an hour. And the count is still climbing.

And then it finally became Sonic and Amy's turn and the two entered the stage with mikes in their hands. When Sonic came out on stage, people already cheered for him because of who he was. And then the background music began to start up and that made everyone start to cheer louder. It was probably the most famous song in all of Glee. Sonic took the first verse.

**(BGM: Don't Stop Believin': Glee Version)**

**Sonic:**

**Just a small town girl**

**Livin' in a lonely world**

**She took the midnight train goin' anywhere**

Amy smiled at his superb voice and then it was time for hers.

**Amy:**

**Just a city boy**

**Born and raised in south Detroit**

**He took the midnight train goin' anywhere**

Everyone except for Shadow started to rhythmically clap to the song as Sonic and Amy went on.

**Sonic:**

**A singer in a smoky room**

**Amy:**

**A smell of wine and cheap perfume**

**Both:**

**For a smile they can share the night**

**It goes on and on and on and on**

**Strangers, waiting**

**Up and down the boulevard**

**Their shadow's searchin' in the night**

**Streetlight, people**

**Livin' just to find emotion**

**Hiding, somewhere in the night**

It wasn't exactly what Amy had planned, but singing with Sonic made her feel closer to him. Their voices worked out perfectly together.

**Amy:**

**Working hard to get my fill**

**Everybody wants a thrill**

**Both:**

**Paying anything to roll the dice**

**Just one more time**

**Amy:**

**Some will win**

**Sonic:**

**Some will lose**

**Both:**

**Some were born to sing the blues**

**Oh the move never ends**

**It goes on and on and on and on**

**Strangers, waiting**

**Up and down the boulevard**

**Their shadow's searchin' in the night**

**Streetlight, people**

**Livin' just to find emotion**

**Hiding, somewhere in the night**

As they guitar solo came on, Amy and Sonic clasped their free hands an interlocked their fingers. They weren't looking out to the audience despite the ovation they were getting. They only looked at each other's eyes. Then they brought the mikes up to their mouths again.

**Both:**

**Don't stop believin'**

**Hold onto that feelin'**

**Streetlight**

**People**

**Don't stop believin'**

**Hold onto that feelin'**

**Streetlight**

**People**

**Don't stop!**

The music came to a halt and everyone in the audience stood up as they gave the two hedgehogs a round of thunderous applause. And just like throughout the entire course of the song, the two of them didn't care. Sonic thought this was gonna be dull and boring. But it was in fact the opposite. It was fun and he liked making Amy smile.

And that's when it hit him. THAT'S how to be a good boyfriend. To do whatever it takes to make your special someone smile. Even if it means doing something ridiculous like singing one of the most popular songs in all the world. It finally happened. Sonic found his touch again. And then to prove it, he gave Amy a big fat kiss right there on stage in front of everyone.

As Amy felt her eyes close like she was in a trance from the kiss, she knew as well Sonic had gotten it back. He had never kissed her so passionately before. Except for that Christmas Eve.

When the two parted after a good forty five seconds of sucking the other's lips, they smiled at each other.

"You doin anything afterwards?" Sonic asked with the same smile.

"_YES!" _In her mind Amy was jumping around for joy because her plan had worked. Not in the she expected but results are results.

"How about we go back to your house and just hang for a while?" Sonic suggested.

"That….sounds great."

The two of them exited the building and received their compliments on the way out about how great they were. Tikal even got Shadow to say they were good.

After three more hours of fun, it was time for them to leave. Shadow and Tikal got on the hedgehog's red and black motorcycle and headed back home. And then Sonic and Amy walked hand in hand back to her house.

XXXX

**At first I wasn't sure whether to have them sing, but then I thought why not?**

**Alright you guys. Chapter ten is the one you HAVE to read. I promise it'll be like one of those TV episodes when you just get shocked out of your pants. Like 24. I miss that show.**

**I'll get it done as soon as I can. See ya!**


	10. Livin' in a Lonely World

**Yep. I'm back and I've got chapter 10 up. Get ready for this.**

**I only own the plot of this story and all the characters are owned by Sega and not me. If they WERE in fact owned by me, it would be an entirely different fandom as we know it. But I don't I like it the way it is. So with that said, enjoy!**

**Consider this my way of saying thanks for giving my page 10,000 hits! Man, how did I get so many awesome people like you following me?**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 10: Livin' in a Lonely World**

All in all, that date was a pretty good one. Sonic and Amy could sing together, Shadow and Tikal could be together forever, and then they learned to not let Tikal go on anymore roller coasters for quite a while. And Sonic for one had finally gotten his boyfriend touch back. Now he could focus more on making Amy happy, and less on Sally. A LOT less. As they walked, the two struck up conversation.

"I gotta tell ya, Ames. When you dragged me into that booth to sing, I thought you were going to put on Endless Love or something like that." Sonic started knowing how girly Amy could get on some things.

"Well…." Amy turned to the left away from him and rubbed the back of her head. "Originally I was gonna do that song. But then I figured once you heard the opening notes you'd run out."

"Well you're not wrong there, sister." Sonic chuckled.

Amy chuckled with him.

"Besides, as much as I adore love songs, Don't Stop Believin' is my favorite song of all time no matter who sings. Well….except for Vector. He's just horrible."

Aside from that note about Vector which almost everyone on the whole planet knew, Sonic took note of what Amy just said.

"I didn't know that was your favorite song." He pointed out. "Well how about that? I learned something totally new about you today."

Amy giggled again and looked into his giant green eyes.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Sonic."

The blue hedgehog hero chuckled as if that were nonsense.

"Please, Amy. What kind of stuff is that? I know all I need to know about you."

In the mood to play around a bit, Amy thought of a question to ask him to prove it.

"What's my favorite food?"

"Spaghetti and meatballs."

That answer came as soon as the last syllable was spoken. Alright. So he knew that one. But what else?

"Favorite movie?"

"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days."

"TV show?"

"Glee. You watch it religiously."

"My favorite place on the planet to visit?"

"The Emerald Coast Resort because it has the most spectacular sunsets like you said. Come on, Amy. Challenge me."

Amy stomped her foot. Sonic really did know a lot about her. But then she thought of something she knew he DIDN'T know at all. Smirking, he looked back at him.

"Sonic?"

"Yes?"

"What's my favorite color?"

His emerald orbs locked on to her jade ones with absolute bewilderment. What kind of question was that? What was Amy Rose's favorite color? How could anyone on the whole surface of Mobius NOT know the answer to that question?

"You serious?" Sonic asked to be sure she wasn't kidding around.

"Dead serious." Was her response.

Sonic gave a small chuckle and gave the obvious answer.

"Blue."

But then Amy gave her response to that one.

"Nope."

No? How was that possible? All her life Amy had been in love with the one who was nicknamed, "The Blue Blur." So how could it not be blue?

"Amy, your favorite color is blue. It has to be."

"It's not. Guess again."

Now the hedgehog was absolutely stumped. If blue wasn't this girl's favorite color, than what could it possibly be?

"Pink? Because you are too?"

"Nope."

"Well then I have no idea."

Amy giggled and then she decided to give him the answer.

"Green. My favorite color is green."

What? Green? Why on Mobius would Amy Rose's favorite color be green of all colors?

"You're kidding me right?" Sonic was actually a bit upset by the fact that Amy likes a color better than his famous blue.

"I'm not kidding, Sonic. Green is my absolute favorite color in the world. And do you know why?"

He shook his head no. And when he did, Amy looked right into his eyes.

"Sonic, I love blue. I mean believe me. I'm obsessed with blue because you're blue itself. But…your eyes…they're just the prettiest green I've ever seen."

Oh yeah. Sonic had completely forgotten what color his eyes were.

"Every time I see blue, I think of you. But whenever I see something green, I always think I'm looking into your eyes. And that's just amazing to me."

A smile involuntarily formed itself on Sonic's muzzle. He had never thought of his eyes like that. And to hear it explained in that kind of way, well, needless to say it sounded pretty cool.

After 45 minutes of walking, the two hedgehogs finally found themselves on the front porch of Amy's house. The girl fished her key out of her small purse and then unlocked and opened the door allowing the both of them access inside and away from the cold. As soon as they went inside, they rubbed their own arms for warmth.

"You want to help me make a fire?" Sonic asked the girl.

"Sure. There's some wood around back."

The wood was gathered in a flash and he also brought along some spare logs just for spare use when it starts to die down. Sonic stacked four logs in the fireplace perfectly. And then as a starter, Amy shoved some torn pieces of newspaper in between the logs and underneath them. And then she tore a match from a book and lit up the paper. A few minutes later, the wood itself ignited and the fire roared to life. Amy wrapped her arms around Sonic wanting to cuddle with him. And just as she wished, the blue hedgehog let her and then he cuddled back.

"You know, I have to say. At first I thought this day was going to be a nightmare when I saw Shadow. But you know, it actually turned out to be very fun time."

Amy felt like she couldn't stop smiling whenever he said something positive.

"I'm really glad you had fun today. And that kiss you gave me on stage… it was so passionate."

"I just wanted to let you know I'm back. And I'm not gonna drift away again."

When Amy looked up to see his eyes, she was met instead by his lips which had made their way onto hers. The eyes could wait. Right now she wanted to enjoy this.

All throughout the day, she had waited for this to happen. Sure Shadow and Tikal were there too, but as far as Amy was concerned, it was just her and Sonic together. And Sonic didn't freak out. Amy remembered that Sonic hated Twinkle Park because of that one water ride. But then she remembered something else. That water ride was only open in the summer. Not winter. Sonic didn't mid Twinkle Park in the winter. THAT'S why he decided to go. The water ride would be closed until late May.

But aside from that, Amy was so glad Sonic had gotten his touch back. In that park today, it was just him and her, and then a bunch of kids with their parents.

And bam. That was enough to get her upset. To see all of those kids with their mothers and fathers. It really hurt her inside. All her life she had only wished she could remember even the vaguest image or memory of them. At least then she would have something. All she had right now was the big bupkis.

As she began to think like that, Sonic took notice because her lips froze up. He opened his eyes back up and looked at her with concern when he saw her gaze was upset.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked the obvious question.

Amy looked away from him and started at her boots.

"Sonic? Do you remember your parents?"

Huh? Puzzlement overcame the blue one's mind. Why would Amy ask him something like that?

"My…. My parents?" he repeated thinking of nothing else to say.

"Yeah. Is there anything about them you recall?"

Sonic still wasn't sure why Amy was asking him this, but still, he tried his hardest to remember what he could about his mother and father. All he had was a single photo album he found in his house. But to see them move around like an actual memory of them being with him, the image was fuzzy, but he could get one.

"Not a lot. Only that they were really happy." Sonic said in response. "When I was about six, they left home one night. And then just like that I never saw them again. They just vanished without a trace."

Sonic found himself not really enjoying this himself. He was supposed to be helping Amy, not make her even more depressed.

"Does it ever get to you?" Amy asked.

Sonic shook his head. "I try not to think about it."

"It doesn't matter how fast you run, Sonic. You can't out run your feelings."

Oh how well Sonic knew that fact to be true.

"Yeah. I know. But I just consider all of you guys to be my family. You know, like my brothers and sisters. And Vanilla to be somewhat of a mother."

Amy smiled a bit when she heard that. But then Sonic finished.

"I had the same feeling about you before. Before I developed any romantic feeling soft, I considered you to be kind of like a sister. An annoying younger sister, but I still loved you like one."

Sonic only prayed Amy would look past that he called her annoying and only focus on the love thing. Which she thankfully did.

"So….do you love me now?" she asked.

Aw man. She just had to ask it like that.

"Well…I'm still not sure. Saying those three words is a very big step in a relationship. I might have gotten my boyfriend touch back, but I'm still not sure if I'm ready to tell you yet. I hope you understand."

Amy nuzzled her head on his chest.

"Of course I do, Sonic. I don't want to pressure you in anyway."

Sonic smiled and tightened his grip on her.

"Same here."

But then his eyes opened up when he thought of a brilliant idea and stood up and out of Amy's embrace.

"Amy, how long have you lived in this house?"

Amy got on her own feet confused by the question.

"I've lived here my whole life. Why?"

"And before that, did your parents live here before you were born?"

The confusion rose inside her head. Why was he asking?

"Yeah. This was the first house they lived in and they left it to me. Sonic, why are you asking me this?"

Sonic put his hands on her shoulder with a big ol' smile plastered on his muzzle.

"Think Amy. Every family has photo albums. I'm not really sure why, but it's just how things work. I'm sure if you and I look hard enough, we can find some pictures of your parents and maybe more."

Amy had never considered that idea. It was a pretty big house and there were places in it she still had never been inside of yet. There was bound to be something. Her smile was enough to make Sonic see she was on board with it.

"Okay. Let's check down here first. Then we'll check upstairs."

Amy agreed and then the two of them quickly began to search the whole lower level of the house. They checked bookshelves, opened every door they could, searched through every closet they could find, but after an hour of searching, they met back in the living room.

"Anything?" Sonic asked.

Amy shook her head. But Sonic wasn't ready to quit. Never for Amy.

"Well, I guess it's the upstairs' turn."

The two of them literally rushed upstairs and began to search once more. Sonic was asked by Amy to stay out of her room for now. Not really understanding, but willing to respect her privacy, Sonic stood outside the doorway as Amy searched through her room. But a few minutes later, she came out with the same results.

"Damn. We've searched everywhere in this whole house. Where else could we look?"

Amy was thrilled that Sonic wanted to help her find out about her parents and all, but there was still that part of her that didn't want to know really.

"Sonic, I really appreciate you wanting to help me with this. But… I just don't think I'm ready to know. Not yet."

"Are you kidding me?" Sonic put both of his hands on her shoulders. "Amy, trust me. You're ready to know. You're gonna be thirteen in a few months. You deserve to know who your parents were."

She should have known when Sonic gets an idea in his head, he won't give up on it.

"Alright then. Let's keep looking."

Sonic rubbed his chin as he thought of places left in the house to look. He had been in Amy's house before. There wasn't a basement in it anywhere. And then the light bulb in his head shone once more.

"Where's your attic?"

"My attic? Just look up."

Amy pointed straight up and Sonic followed the point up to the ceiling of the second floor hallway. Right above them, there was a trap door in the ceiling with a strong and a ball attached to it dangling from above. Sonic pulled on the string and the trap door came down revealing there to be a fold out ladder for entrance to the attic. Sonic went up first and saw a small light bulb socket up in the attic. He pulled the small chain string and the bulb lit up showing the dusty attic. The ceiling was high up enough so he could stand up straight. Amy then came up herself and looked around.

"Well I can't say I'm surprised. I've never come up here in all the time I've lived in this house so it had to be dusty."

Sonic looked back at her surprised.

"You've never come up here?" he asked. "Amy, an attic is like the mother of all treasure places for some people."

Her jade eyes narrowed a bit.

"Really?"

"Yes really. All my old stuff is in my attic. My old toys, my baby clothes….my very first pair of shoes."

He seemed to speak those last six words with passion.

"I take it you really adore your shoes?"

"It was my first pair. I'm a sentimental guy. Now come on. Let's see what we can find."

With that, Sonic and Amy both began to search through the contents of the attic for anything that could connect Amy to her mother and or father. There was pretty much everything in that attic that one would expect to actually be in an attic. Boxes of junk, useless items, things that could probably now make a good profit on Ebay, you know. The works.

It took the hedgehogs about forty five minutes to get through almost every single box in that attic. But sadly, they got the same result as before.

But then, Sonic stumbled upon a box that had the word, "Memories" written in black pen. Curious as to the contents, he opened it up and inside, there was what appeared to be dusty old books and videotapes. He picked one of the books up and flipped through the pages to see pictures of two hedgehogs. One red and one white.

"_JACKPOT!"_

"Amy! I found it! Over here!"

Amy was searching another box when Sonic called her. And then she did her best to get over the other boxes in her way and over to Sonic who had the book in his hand. Sonic closed the book and pressed it up against his chest.

"Well Amy? Are you ready to finally see your parents?"

"Just give me the book before I murder you!" she shouted anxiously.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Sonic handed the book the Amy and she slowly ran her palm over the cover of it. After a big deep breath, she opened up the book and gasped. Two hedgehogs in a picture. On dark red and the other bright white. The red one was male and white female. The red one had six long quills like Sonic's and he had jade green eyes like Amy's. And the white one's quills were hanging down like Amy's were and had yellow eyes. Both of them had those three stray hairs on their foreheads.

"My mom and dad." She whispered.

Sonic stood next to her ready to wipe her eyes for the tears he knew were about to come. As Amy flipped through the pages, more and more pictures of her mother and father in happy memories. But there was still one thing.

"I still don't know their names."

Curious to know himself as well, Sonic went back to that box to check one of the other albums for names. But he didn't have to. In between two of the books, there was a picture of the two hedgehogs at their wedding. And there was a banner behind them with the answer Amy needed.

"Check it out, Ames."

Sonic put the picture in front of Amy's face and read the banner in the background.

"Congratulations, Iggy and Crystal."

Iggy was kind of a weird name, but then again, most of Sonic's friends had strange names. And then just like Sonic had anticipated, Amy dropped a few tears on the picture.

"My mom, she's so beautiful."

Crystal Rose. In that picture she was standing in the altar holding Iggy's hand. She was wearing a peach colored wedding dress so people would be able to tell the difference from her white fur. There were red roses in her hair and she had even more of them in her other hand. And she had a very beautiful smile. Iggy was wearing a black tuxedo with a white undershirt and a red bowtie.

"Aw. Look. I found baby pictures."

Amy's head shot straight up and looked at Sonic who was looking at another page of another album. As ecstatic as Amy was to finally know what her parents looked like, she had also never seen any baby pictures of herself. So she decided to go over and see.

Sonic was at the very beginning of the book. And apparently page one also happened to have photo's of Amy's day one. In one pic, she was in her mother's arms a few minutes after she was born.

"Look at me. I was so small."

"And cute."

Sonic had two powers as far as Amy knew. His super speed, and the ability to make her smile at any given moment. And then Sonic turned the page.

Amy scrolled through the pictures on the page until one of them in lower right hand corner caught her eye. It was of her and one other person. And that one other person was someone she wasn't expecting.

"Sonic, look." she whispered his name and pointed to the photo she had spotted.

When Sonic found the one Amy was referring to, he couldn't help but give a small gasp. In that photo was baby Amy sitting on a bed on her knees. But right next to her with a smile, there was another tiny hedgehog. And this one was cobalt blue with emerald green eyes.

"No way." Sonic whispered.

Amy just stared with her mouth open until she finally spoke again after ten minutes of silence.

"Sonic….is that….you?"


	11. Up and Down the Boulevard

**Alright. I know a lot of you were a bit pissed last chapter to say the least. But come on. Have I EVER disappointed you guys? Sure chapter nine was a wee bit perverted but that's pretty much it. I promise. So without further ado, here's chapter 11.**

**PS: New poll in my profile. Vote in it.**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 11: Up and Down the Boulevard (of Memories)**

Ten minutes went by. And neither Sonic nor Amy moved an inch from where they were when they spotted the picture. It was of both of them as babies. Amy was only a few months old, and Sonic had to be at least two and half if not almost three. That was the age difference between them. But they weren't the least bit interested in the math right now. They had their eyes super glued to that photo.

Different kind of emotions ran through their heads. Intrigue, amazement, but most of all, shock.

"That's me….and you…..as babies." Sonic stuttered.

"But….how?" Amy put her brain into overdrive trying to figure out how this was even possible.

"I have no clue." Was Sonic's reply.

Amy got up and began to quickly pace back on forth and kept asking the question in her head. How was that photo taken?

"I just can't figure it out. How and why are you in that one photo?"

But as Amy was pacing, Sonic had enough nerve to turn the page. And only then did he receive even more of a shock.

"Uuuhhhh…. Amy?"

"What?"

"It's not just one."

Amy knew there was only one explanation as to why Sonic would say something like that. So she went back to her knees right next to him and looked at the album pages. And then her jade orbs became fully visible again.

When Sonic turned the page, he found that there were pages and pages of baby pictures. Of both Sonic and Amy.

"This thing has pictures of the two of us from cover to cover." Sonic said.

Amy gasped as she thought of the only solution her brain was able to come up with. With a very frightened expression, she looked at Sonic.

"S-s-s-s-s-Sonic?" she stuttered.

The blue hedgie looked at her.

"Are you and I….brother and sister?"

Glass shattered all around in Sonic's mind. And then his face turned into one that was similar to the one Amy had. Sonic was freaking out as he thought of that possibility. He and Amy had done so many things brothers and sisters should never do with each other. All the making out, the romantic dates, and then there was that one night they rounded second base but that's a whole different story that won't be brought up again.

As the two of them slowly began to realize that this was a growing possibility, that they were in fact siblings, they did the only thing they could think of doing right now.

Panic.

Sonic began to dash from one end of the attic to another while just stood up and froze in her place.

"COME ON! COME ON! THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING IN HERE THAT CAN EXPLAIN THIS!"

Sonic was shouting at the top of his lungs. While Amy could barely be heard.

"This can't be happening."

"YOU CAN'T BE MY SISTER! ASIDE FROM THE FACT THAT WE'RE BOTH HEDGEHOGS AND WE BOTH HAVE GREEN EYES, WE DON'T LOOK ANYTHING ALIKE!"

"How can the only guy I ever loved possibly be my brother? It's like the universe is just screwing with me now."

"OH DEAR GOD! I'M HAVING A HEART ATTACK!"

"The two of us….touched each other."

Sonic screeched to a halt because that line he actually heard.

"Listen to me, Amy. You and I can't be brother and sister! Because if we are, than that night….oh god I think I'm gonna puke." Sonic was starting to literally get sick thinking about that.

Now Amy started to run around to. And the first place she looked was that box where Sonic found the photo album. And there were still plenty more. She fished one out and opened it up. It was more pictures of her parents from before she was born. She flipped through the pages like crazy trying to find something that would clear this whole thing up.

Back with Sonic, he was actually turning green in the face. What he and Amy have done, would be considered, oh so wrong.

"SONIC!"

Amy's shriek was enough to make him jump and hit the ceiling. But then he rushed over to where she was.

"What?" he asked.

She pointed to a picture on another page of the same album she had in her hand.

"Look." She sounded a lot calmer for some reason.

Sonic followed her finger to the picture she was looking at and he viewed it. It was a picture of Iggy and Crystal Rose. And standing right next to them, were two blue hedgehogs. One male and one female. Both of them had a puff of yellow hair on their foreheads. The only way to tell them apart was how they dressed and the female had those long eyelashes.

"Are those…. MY parents?" Sonic asked hoping it was true.

Amy turned a few more pages and then there was the proof they needed. It was a picture of Iggy, Crystal, and the two blue ones in a hospital delivery room. The female blue one was in a bed and had a blanket bundled in her arm. And wrapped in that blanket, was newborn Sonic the Hedgehog.

And that was it. The panic was over and Sonic no longer felt sick to his stomach as he leaned on the wall and breathed a sigh of relief and Amy did the same.

"Oh thank God." Sonic couldn't have been more relieved at this point.

"We're not disgusting." Amy felt the same way.

But then after that ten second break, the two of them got back to looking at the pictures. But there was a lot more in the box and then Sonic thought of something.

"You know, I probably have some old pictures and stuff like this in MY attic. How about I go and get and bring it over here? Then we can see what we both can find out."

Amy smiled and nodded at that idea. Sonic rushed down the attic ladder and out of her house for his. While he was at this house, Amy grabbed the box and carried it all the way down to her living room and began to sort it all out. A few minutes later, Sonic came back with his own box and he set it down next to Amy's.

"Shall you and I now go through the treasures of our past and find the connection?" Sonic asked.

Amy nodded and then they started to go through Sonic's box first. They pulled out old baby clothes, bibs, outfits, and then when Amy pulled out a pair of tiny shoes, Sonic snatched them away.

"Be careful with those." He said as he actually started to pet the shoes as if they where a Chao or something.

That got Amy a bit concerned that Sonic was showing suck affection for a pair of shoes. But then she remembered what shoes they must be.

"I take it that's your very first pair of shoes. Huh?" she asked knowing the answer.

Sonic smiled at the shoes and then at Amy.

"Yep. I learned how to walk and run in these things. I broke 100 miles an hour when I was two."

Amy giggled at how delighted Sonic was of that memory, but then she remembered that the whole point of all this was to discover what her memories were. She began to dig through Sonic's box again and then she found another photo album. On the cover it read, "Jules and Bernadette. Before Sonic."

"Jules and Bernadette?" she read it out loud after quickly getting it. "That must be your parent's names."

Sonic read the words on the book himself. He had learned something about his parents today.

"Well let's open it up." Sonic said.

Amy nodded and then she opened up the book. The first few dozen of pages were of just the two blue hedgehogs. They were actually really good pictures. Smiles were captured, some good group shots of people Sonic didn't know, there was even some good actions shots of the two of them water skiing side by side.

"My folks used to water ski?" Sonic was impressed because he was scared of water. "Huh. They're braver than me."

Amy looked closely at one of the pictures and noticed something.

"They're not wearing wedding rings." She observed. "These photos must be before they got married."

When Amy turned the page again, she forgot what she said because she saw Sonic's parents posing next to her own parents again.

"There they are." She whispered.

Sonic's head started to hurt from all the new facts he was learning today. All these years he had these pictures up in his attic and he didn't even bother to look.

"Your parents and my parents…must have been really close friends." Sonic finally thought of the reason that there were so many of these pictures.

"Yeah." Amy murmured as she continued to look at the pictures. "Hey check it out. There's your parent's wedding."

Amy pointed to another photo and it was Jules and Bernadette's photo up on the altar. They were holding each other's hands. Right next to Jules was Iggy, and right next Bernadette was Crystal.

"REALLY close." Amy said. "My parents were YOUR parent's best man and maid of honor."

Sonic only nodded his head. The two hedgehogs were able to seem calm in a time like this. But they were still completely shocked to learn something as strong as this. Their parents were best friends with each other. But then things only got weirder. As Amy turned the page once, more, she saw another familiar face.

"Miss Vanilla?"

Sonic looked too and indeed it was. It was a photo at Jules and Bernadette's reception. And in the photo, were Jules, Bernadette, Iggy, Crystal, and then Vanilla with another older rabbit. The other one a guy.

"That must be her husband." Sonic assumed.

"Yeah I guess." Was Amy's response.

As Amy flipped through the rest of the album it was just of Jules and Bernie on their honeymoon in what looked like some very fancy beach hotel.

Sonic pulled out another one and opened it up to the first page. And there he was. Not even a few hours old fresh from his mother's womb.

"My god." Sonic had never seen these pictures before. "Look at me. Hard to believe I was that small."

"Oh you were just the cutest little baby!"

Sonic should've seen Amy's girly reaction coming. She was now looking at his baby pictures. The full girlyness was yet to come. And then it got turned up a notch when Amy turned the page and saw Sonic in a high chair and bib.

"X3! Oh my god! Look at you!"

Sonic's cheeks were now officially as red as they could possibly get. This was so embarrassing for him. First that high chair, and then came the stupid outfits. But then there was one Sonic just had to stare at for a minute. And it was of course him in his first pair of shoes.

Those shoes were exactly identical to his trademark red and white ones. Only they were a lot smaller and lacked the golden buckles. And he wasn't wearing any shirts or pants or anything else either. Not even a diaper.

"Now THAT is a great picture." Sonic smirked at the younger version of his heroic self. "Man. I am one sharp hedgehog. Don't you think, Ames?"

Amy giggled. Even she had to admit he looked pretty darn good in just his shoes. But then she turned the page again, and she saw that exact same picture of baby Amy and Baby Sonic she spotted in her own album. And there were many more of the two of them after that.

"Since our parents were close, they must have gotten together a lot. And they must have gotten the two of us together in the process." Amy said.

"Yeah. Just look at all these pictures of us." Sonic looked at them all. There had to be at least a hundred of them.

There had to be lots of different photos of the two of them. Ones where they were smiling, crying, eating, there was even a few cute pics of them sleeping in the same crib together.

"*GASP!* Look at that!" Amy went girly once more.

Amy had her eyes locked on another picture of baby Sonic and baby Amy. Baby Amy had a bump on her head and tears in her eyes. And baby Sonic was kissing the bump on her tiny pink head.

"Aaaaawwwww. You kissed me. I was your first kiss!"

"Hey now come on, Ames. That's cute and all but I think the first kiss has to be on the lips. Otherwise it doesn't count." Sonic admitted the pic was cute, but that was it.

"Well than look at that one." Amy pointed to another picture of them.

And in this one, baby Amy and baby Sonic were kissing each other's lips. Actually, Amy was the one kissing Sonic. Baby Sonic just had his eyes open as if he didn't even see it coming. And now the real older Sonic had his eyes wide too.

"Well how about that." he smirked at Amy. "You were my real first kiss. And it looks like we kissed on my bed at my house."

For Amy, that explained a lot. Even before she met Sonic at 8, she had always felt that she had known him before then. Like he knew him already. And know she knew why. She actually DID know him already. And he was her first kiss. Sally wasn't Sonic's first kiss. That made Amy so happy.

And that's when she remembered. That feeling whenever Amy entered Sonic's house. She felt as if she had been in it before. And now she knew why. Apparently she was over there quite constantly as a young one.

But then Sonic turned the page again. And this time Amy wasn't in the photos anymore. It looked like Sonic's parents were unloading boxes into a different looking house.

Sonic snapped his fingers. "I must have lived in the house I'm in now from zero to three. Then I moved out to New Mobotropolis. I remember now." Then he eyed Sonic again with another young baby female. And he was trying to forget her. "And then I met Sally the very next day we moved in."

Amy didn't really like seeing Sonic's ex-girlfriend in the photo album. And Sonic was able to see that in her eyes. So he did something that the two of them both wanted. He took the picture off the page and tossed it aside.

"I'm done with her now." Then he turned the page back to the ones of him and cute little Amy. "Now it's just you and me." He turned and looked at Amy with his gorgeous smile. "He he. Just like old times I guess. Huh?"

Amy kept herself from tearing up. And then she looked at her, "old friend".

"Sonic, I always knew there was a connection between us. I had no idea it went back this far."

"Yeah I know. You were right all along, Amy." Sonic looked back at the pictures again still amazed that this was happening. "All those times you said us being together is fate, I can see why now. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I'm just sorry I didn't get to be with you more."

"Apparently you and I were together almost all the time. I mean look at this one." Amy pointed at another picture.

Sonic viewed and realized that photo must have been taken on the first day Amy was born. She was wrapped in a pink blanket and lying in one of those baby beds in the hospital. Sonic was in the shot smiling down at her over the rail.

"Yeah. Look at my face. I was smiling at you Amy. I must have liked you right there."

And that was it. Amy just had to kiss him. And she did. Long and hard. And then that kiss turned into a twenty minute makeout session. But then Sonic realized something. He went up into Amy's attic to help find out who her parents were. Not for this particular reason. But it was a good thing she found it.

"Alright." He lifted her off of him. "How about we find out more about your parents now?"

Amy also remembered she wanted to know that as well. But yet….

"We've looked at almost every picture we have, Sonic. I know what they looked like and what their names are and I'm really happy about that. But I want to know more about them. I want to hear their voices."

Sonic dug through Amy's box again thinking of something that could do that. And then he found something and pulled it out.

"Well then let's turn on the TV and see." Amy looked and saw that Sonic had a black videotape in his hand.

Amy smiled and then showed Sonic the TV. She still had an old VCR thankfully and the tape was put it. Sonic put in the first tape and then sat on the couch with Amy and hit the PLAY button on the remote. As soon as the screen flickered on, an image of Crystal on the couch was shown. And then she turned and saw the camera and started to get up and walk away.

"Why do you insist on doing things like that?"

"Oh come on, Crystal. It's just me. Not Hollywood."

Sonic couldn't help but notice how similar that whole camera shy thing was.

"Now I know where you get your camera shyness from."

But Amy wasn't listening. She had her undivided attention on the tape. It was finally happening. For the first time, Amy was hearing her parent's voices and seeing them move. Sure it was only on a tape, but it was all the same to her. All that mattered to her was that she was finally learning about her past. Something she had never thought too much about until she got together with Sonic. Her eyes were starting to bubble up as Iggy began to chase Crystal through the house with the latter laughing and screaming as she ran. And then Iggy tackled her onto the bed and dropped the camera. But the angle the camera landed made it possible to see their faces perfectly as they began to kiss one another on the bed right there.

"They really loved each other." Amy murmured.

And then the tape went fuzzy and when it showed again, they were at a Van Halen concert with Not Enough playing in the background.

"Aw sweet. I love Van Halen." Sonic said as he began to bob his head to the song.

The tape transitioned to a lot of other things on that tape. Parties, birthdays, and then near the end, Bernadette and Jules started to show up. And now Sonic was getting a lesson in his own memories. He saw Bernadette look at Crystal's now bigger stomach.

"I guess this is when your mom was pregnant with you." Sonic observed.

Amy nodded in agreement but then the tape reached the end. But then Sonic fished through Amy's box again and pulled out another tape and put it in. And then Sonic pressed PLAY. The tape wasn't labeled so they had no idea what they were going to see, but as soon as the screen showed an image…

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

A scream came from the tape and Amy and Sonic went white and the former dove into her boyfriend's arms.

"Oh dear god! My mom's giving birth to me!"

Yeah. The first thing on that tape was Crystal Rose in mid-childbirth. Amy just couldn't see that. And Sonic put his hand over his mouth afraid he was going to throw up as another scream pierced the speakers of the TV.

"Fast forward! Fast forward! Fast forward!" Amy cried.

Sonic scrambled for the remote and hit the FF button just in time to miss the part where Amy actually crowned. And then he pressed play again and there was no more screaming.

"Okay. I think it's safe now." Sonic told Amy.

She looked up and peeked at the TV to see it was actually alright. Crystal was holding the newborn Amy in her arms and she was crying. Actually they both were. Crystal because she was a mother and Amy because that's just what babies do. But a few minutes later, baby Amy fell asleep.

"Iggy, come here. You have to see this." Crystal said from the video.

Apparently Amy's father was the one holding the camera. And then the view zoomed up and closer to Amy's face.

"She's beautiful." Iggy's voice came. "Just like her mother."

Crystal smiled and then Iggy took the camera and opened the door of the room up. In the waiting room of the hospital were Jules and Bernadette with baby Sonic.

"You guys want to meet her?" Iggy asked.

All three blue hedgehogs stood up and Bernadette held Sonic's hand as they all walked into the room and gazed upon the fresh Amy Rose. All three of them smiled and then Bernie picked up Sonic so he could see.

"Look Sonic. This is Amy." Bernie said.

"A…Aay…mee." The baby Sonic squeaked.

Everyone both in the tape or not laughed a bit when Sonic said Amy's name like that.

"Aw. Now how cute is that?" Although she was near tears watching this, Amy could still girl it up.

After that was shown, the rest of the video was pretty much of Sonic and Amy playing together as babies. But most of it was centered around Amy because she was their daughter.

But even though she adored seeing baby Sonic and baby Amy play together, the older Amy still craved to know more.

"There just has to be something else that can tell us more." Amy said as she began to dig through the box again.

But right as she did, Sonic had an idea.

"Maybe not something." Sonic had one of the photo albums and he had it opened up to a certain page. "But rather, someONE."

Amy had no idea what he was talking about. But she quickly realized what he meant when she saw that he was pointing to that picture that had Vanilla and her husband in it. Of course. Why didn't she think of that before? Vanilla could tell her everything.

"Let's go to Cream's house. Right now." Amy got up and put on her jacket with Sonic in tow.

She closed the door, Sonic picked her up, and then he took off for Cream's house. A minute later, they were there and Amy had brought two of the photo albums with her. After talking with Vanilla, she would have to be satisfied because that's pretty much all she's gonna get on this.

Amy knocked a few times and Cream was the one to answer the door with Cheese on her head.

"Oh, hello, Amy. Hi, Mr. Sonic."

"Chao chao!"

"Hey there, Cream. Is your mom, home?" Sonic asked politely.

"Yes she is. Come on in. It's cold outside."

Cream opened the door enough so the two hedgehogs could come in and then she quickly closed it to conserve the warm air.

"Mama, Sonic and Amy are here!" Cream called.

Vanilla heard her daughter from the kitchen. A few seconds later, she walked out and smiled at them.

"Why hello you two. For what do I owe the pleasure?" the aged rabbit asked them.

Amy looked down at the closed photo album. She had always considered Vanilla to be a mother figure in her life. But she never thought she would come this close.

"We were hoping we could talk to you alone, Miss Vanilla. It's kind of important." Sonic said.

It was vaguely to Vanilla. Sonic and Amy had never asked to speak to her alone before. Usually whenever they came by, it was to talk to Cream. So she had a good idea of why they were there. And Sonic was right. This was a private matter for now.

Putting on a smile for her daughter, Vanilla looked at Cream.

"Honey, why don't you take Cheese and go to Tails' house and ask if you could borrow some butter? I need some for dinner tonight."

Cream smiled on two occasions. One because she got to go outside, and two, she was going to Tails' house.

"I'll go get my jacket."

Cream ran to her room and ten seconds later, she had on a green kid's size jacket and Cheese had on a hat and scarf.

"Don't be too long. Okay dear?"

"I won't, Mama."

With that bid goodbye, Cream and Cheese took off for Tails' house and then the three Mobians left in the house took a seat. And Vanilla was the one to speak first.

"I'm sure I know why you're here. It was only a matter of time before you found out."

Amy actually got a bit angry.

"I asked you so many times about my parents hoping you would give me some clue as to what they were like. But you always said you didn't meet them." Amy had that page in the album marked with Vanilla in it and she opened up to it. "You lied to me!"

"Amy, calm down. I'm sure she had a good reason." But Sonic wasn't sure about that himself as he looked at the older rabbit who was no longer smiling. "You had a good reason. Right?"

Vanilla nodded.

"Amy, I always wanted to tell you I was friends with your mother and father. Believe me. I did. But I promised them I wouldn't."

"Wait. You promised them? What does that mean? Did they plan on dying or something like that?" Amy asked her still a bit stern.

Vanilla looked away. Apparently she didn't find out EVERYTHING just yet. Vanilla got up and went over to her bookshelf. Behind a stack of books, she had an old newspaper. She handed it to Amy and then her eyes teared up when she saw the headline.

CAR CRASH KILLS HEDGEHOG COUPLE

"Your mother and father were taking a road trip down to Westopolis. You were probably two at the time and they asked me to babysit you. Your father was the one driving. I don't know how, but he lost control. They were rushed to the hospital and I went to visit them. They asked me not to tell you anything about them when you grew up because they wanted you to figure it out for yourself. I just thought it wouldn't take this long for it to happen."

Amy just stared at the newspaper. Sonic wasn't really sure of she heard a word Vanilla just said. But it was clear that she did by her next question.

"So you were with them…when they died?"

Vanilla shook her head.

"No, dear. I only went and visited them one day after the crash. The next day after that, they died because of internal bleeding."

A few of the tears that threatened to get loose actually did as they fell on the newspaper.

"And Sonic, I'm sorry. But to this day I'm not sure what happened to your parents. After you moved to New Mobotropolis, we lost touch with each other."

Sonic nodded and then Hugged Amy a bit.

"But what about me and her?" he asked trying to get on a lighter mood. "We have pictures and videos but were we really that close?"

And finally Vanilla smiled in this conversation.

"Close? The two of you were inseparable. And honestly I'm not surprised. Your parents hardly ever went a full week without seeing each other. It was only general knowledge that their kids would be the same."

"So our parents were really that close?" Amy asked as she clasped Sonic's hands.

"Oh yes. And the two of you only made them closer. Whenever they got together, you two ended up playing together. And the two of you really liked being around each other. You were best friends until Sonic moved away."

"Best friends? Me and her?" Sonic asked not really believing it. "Hard to believe considering how I've been to her the past years."

"Regardless of that, as babies, it was hard to get you two to leave each other. Whenever one of you left, or if one of your parents picked you up when the other was around, the both of you would cry because you became farther apart from each other."

Sonic rubbed the back of his head.

"So it must have been rough when I moved away."

"Oh it was." Vanilla said. "Amy didn't stop crying for hours after your parents drove away."

"So first I lost Sonic all those years ago, and then I lost parents." Amy said still a bit saddened that she would never hear them up close.

"Actually, I remember now. Hold on. Stay right there."

Vanilla got up and went to a nearby closet. A few minutes later of searching, she pulled out another video tape.

"They recorded this for you in case anything happened to them. And they gave it to me to give it to you on the day you found out."

Vanilla held out the tape to Amy and she slowly accepted it into her hands. It was all so much for just one day to take. First the whole brother sister mix up, then the pictures, the tapes, then this. It was all too much to handle for her. But she had to stay strong. She couldn't be weak for this. It was too important to her.

"I'll leave you alone to watch."

Vanilla walked out of the room. They were right next to the TV. As Sonic got up to leave as well, Amy stopped him and grabbed his arm.

"Wait." She whispered. "Could you please stay?"

Sonic nodded. She needed him right now. So he sat back down while Amy put in the tape and pressed play. Soon, her parents were seen sitting on the couch and it looked like they were looking right at her.

"Hi, Amy." Crystal said. "I guess if you're watching this, we're not with you anymore."

"We're really sorry about that, honey." Iggy joined in. "When we recorded this, you were really young. But of your watching this I guess you've grown into a beautiful young woman."

"Well he's not wrong there." Sonic wrapped her arm around her.

And then he noticed that her eyes were no longer holding back the tears. She had two twin waterfalls coming out of her eyes and they were dripping all over his jacket.

"Amy, if by any chance, you don't get a chance to know us that well, we just want you to know that we love you more than life itself and that we would have given anything to make sure you got what you deserved." Crystal said.

"We only hope you become a strong girl and that you do okay for yourself." Iggy took another turn. "We don't have that much to say to you, Amy because there's not a lot we CAN say. Only that…. we love you with all our hearts."

Amy could barely hear them now over her own sobs. The tape quickly wrapped up and then Sonic decided that he better take Amy back home. He ejected the tape first and then he put it in the pocket of his jacket.

Before he went out the door, Vanilla stopped them to say one last thing.

"Both of your parents were some of the best friends I ever had." She said softly. "I'm just sorry you two didn't get a chance to know them as well as I did."

Amy stopped crying for long enough to speak for a few seconds.

"Thanks for everything." Was all she could get out of her mouth.

Sonic also thank the rabbit for the info and then he took Amy back to her place. He knew right when he started that tape that she would get this way. For second even HE felt like crying. It was a lot of information for both of them to take in just a few hours. It was practically overwhelming for both hedgies. For Amy, it was sad for her to think that watching that tape would be the only way to have her parents actually talk directly to her.

Once she got to her house, Sonic had to lay her down on her bed the poor thing was too tired to move. She cried for at least thirty minutes and Sonic just sat right next to her on her bed rubbing her back as she hugged a pillow. And in a way, Sonic felt that it was his fault to begin with. It was his idea to help her find out about her parents. And now look. She was about to drown in her own tears. But soon after that thirty minute barrier, Sonic just couldn't stand to see her like that anymore.

"Amy, I'm sorry."

Despite her own muffled weeping, Amy heard Sonic speak. And she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Sorry? *SNIFFLE* For what?"

"It was my stupid idea to help you find out about your parents. And I can't help but feel like it all hurt you."

"Hurt me? Sonic, I'm not hurt in any way."

"You're not? Well then….what's with the waterworks?"

"Sonic, I'm so happy you searched through my attic today. We found out so much about both of us. I guess…that last tape just got to me."

"Yeah. I can see why." Sonic replied. "If it was my parents doing the same thing for me I would have done the same thing probably. But you don't have to cry this much about it. Your parents loved you a lot. And they wanted you to have a great life. Do you think you have one?"

Amy thought hard about that. Of course she did.

"Yeah I got a great life. I have so many friends, a roof over my head," And then she smiled at the blue boy. "And I have the best boyfriend I could ever ask for. Because he was my best friend as a baby."

The two of them hugged each other and then Sonic said this.

"And I will be forever."

Amy couldn't help but smile. And then the hug transformed into a kiss. And then the kiss just never seemed to end. And then the two of them fell onto Amy's bed with Sonic on top.

Amy realized how lucky she really was. Sure she didn't have a mother and father anymore, but she had to admit. She had one hell of a life. She had her own family. And hopefully in her dreams, Sonic would become much more than that. But her thoughts faded as Sonic's tongue entered her mouth and then the two just moaned for the next hour as they enjoyed their, 'reunion'.

But this wasn't the end of it. Sonic and Amy are happy, but this ain't anywhere near over.

**XXX**

**Until next chapter, peace bitches!  
**


	12. Searchin' In the Night

**Greetings my friends. Chapter twelve is here and I saw in some of your reviews that some of you tried to predict what was going to happen next. Just lettin' you know right now, none of you guessed right. So with that, enjoy this chapter.**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 12: Searching in the Night**

So a week went by since Amy and Sonic went through the whole memory fiasco. A couple days after that day, they clued in their friends. Needless to say, everyone was absolutely shocked figuring out Sonic and Amy were once childhood best friends. Some thought it was cute. Those people being Cream, Tikal, and Blaze of course. Some just couldn't believe it. Those people being Tails and Silver. Knuckles, Rouge, and Shadow seriously tried to steal the photos and post them online for the whole world to see. But luckily Sonic's speed and Amy's hammer made them stop thinking about that little plan.

All seemed right with the world at this point. Everyone seemed happy. Sonic and Amy were happier than they had ever been. Tails was starting to warm up more around Cream. And as for all the other couples, they remained the same. Although Shadow had been strangely keeping quiet for the past few days. And Tikal had no idea as to why. She wanted to ask him why he was quieter, but she could never get a straight answer out of him. But every time he looked at her, he smiled. Tikal was able to notice that it was a different kind of smile but she just couldn't put her finger on what was going on in his head. It was like he was up to something. But not even Rouge could get a clue on Shadow's less talkative attitude.

It was going to be Sonic and Amy's one month anniversary today. And Amy wanted to do something special. Not something along the line of gifts or anything like that, but she wanted to do something with Sonic. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it, but seeing Amy smile always put a spell on him to make him smile too. But he was definitely going to get her something for Valentine's Day which was coming up fast. So he agreed to go out with her to a pace of her choosing. As soon as she heard that, she immediately called the number of a place she knew and loved in the phonebook and made a reservation for two at six.

It was just going to be her and Sonic tonight. That was pretty much how it's been for the past month. And she was loving every second of it. But she loved Sonic even more. Everyone knows that. When Sonic came to pick her up, he asked where they were going. She told him to be patient because it was a surprise. And Sonic couldn't help but wonder what she had planned. As it was now customary, Sonic carried Amy as he ran. This time Amy had to guide him left and right until finally, she told him to stop.

Sonic looked up at the bright neon sign and recognized it. It read in big green neon, "Mr. Wise's Karaoke Joint." And just from the word "karaoke", Sonic realized why Amy had chosen that place.

"I guess Twinkle Park wasn't enough?"

"Oh come on. I'm not saying we'll sing. I just really like it here."

Sonic sighed. As long as he didn't have to sing, he was fine. He knew it was good, but it wasn't something he admitted he liked doing. As they walked in, Amy confirmed their reservation with the host and they sat them at a table near the stage. This was a karaoke bar alright. But the system was different. Instead of a machine with music programmed into it, there was a full sized stage with instrument players in the back. Drums, guitars, piano, the whole nine yards. Right now there was a male magenta furred cat on stage singing Michael Jackson's "Thriller." He wasn't bad when it came to his voice, but he could have done himself a favor and saved the embarrassment by not trying to imitate the dance moves. He epically failed at them. After he finished, he walked off stage and then the next guy came.

But Sonic wasn't laughing at that guy's crappy dance moves. He had his eyes locked on Amy and they weren't being diverted anytime soon. The same rule was currently applying to Amy's jade orbs as well. Sonic slowly slid his hand across the table and put it on top of hers.

"This past month has been really fun for me, Amy."

Amy blushed as soon as their hands made contact. His touch was always so gentle. It was always perfect for her.

"It's been fun for me too, Sonikku." Amy muttered back to him.

Amy was hoping for something else to happen too. The "I Love You." He still hadn't said it yet. And only Sonic knew why. He still wasn't ready. Or at least he felt he wasn't. That and he was still waiting for the right time.

"You know I've been thinking." Amy said. "Maybe we should get Tails and Cream to go out on a real date."

"I was actually thinking that very same thing." Sonic agreed. "The little guy is a lot more comfortable around her now. He can even not talk about anything geeky when he's around her."

"That's a good development." Amy stated as she looked at her menu. You wanna just split a burger and a basket of fries with me?"

"That sounds great. What kind do you want?" the blue hedgehog asked.

"I was thinking of a plain cheeseburger with bacon. What do you think?"

A bacon cheeseburger. Sonic LOVED chili dogs. But if there was one food that he liked after that, it was bacon cheeseburgers. No one knew why.

"How did I get so lucky to get a girl like you?"

Amy giggled at that remark.

"You've always had me, Sonic. You just didn't know it."

Sonic just had to do something for this girl. IT was a special night in her mind and he felt he had to at least give her something. But what could he do right now? All he had to work with was a bacon cheeseburger in a karaoke bar. Wait. He's in a karaoke bar right now. Of course!

"You wait right here. I'll be right back."

The blue hedgie got up and walked away to a point where Amy couldn't see him. And that got her wondering what he was up to. And her curiosity only grew more when he didn't come back after a ten minute time. And then the announcer in the place announced the next singer.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our next singer, you know him, you love him, Eggman hates him, Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog."

The whole bar erupted in applause as Amy just dropped her jaw and looked up on stage. Sonic was there and he was sitting behind the grand piano. Amy had no idea Sonic could play the piano. She knew he played guitar but piano, this was new. And then Sonic's fingers began to play. It was a beautiful sound those keys of a piano could make. After about twenty seconds or so, Sonic's voice turned on.

**(BGM: Not Enough; By: Van Halen)**

**To love somebody naturally  
To love somebody faithfully  
To love somebody equally  
Is not enough, it's not enough  
It's not enough**

She recognized the song. It was the one playing on that videotape that showed Amy's parents at a Van Halen concert. Sonic must have remembered that too. Amy was surprised that Sonic chose to sing something as lovey as this. But then Sonic winked at her which practically made her melt in her seat as he went on. The background people also joined in.

**Sonic:**

**To love somebody secretly**

**(Background)**

**And never touch**

**Sonic:**

**To love somebody honestly**

**(Background)**

**And always trust**

**Sonic:**

**To love somebody tenderly  
The tender touch is not enough  
It's not enough  
**

As soon as the chorus approached, all the other instruments of rock and roll turned on. The guitars, the bass, and the drums all fully joined in now as Sonic's rock voice took over.

**Love hurts you sometimes  
It's not so easy to find, no  
Searchin' everywhere, you turn and swear  
It's always been there**

The music softened up again and then it turned back to Sonic on the piano with a steady drum line in the background.

**Sonic:**

**To love somebody foolishly**

**(Background)**

**Can happen once**

**Sonic:**

**To love somebody hopelessly**

**(Background)**

**It hurts so much**

**Sonic:**

**To love somebody equally  
Is not enough, it's not enough  
It's not enough  
**

Amy was almost to the point where she just wanted to rush up on stage and kiss Sonic while he was still playing. But out of respect for the song, she was going to let him finish.

**Love takes a little time  
It's not so easy to find, no, no  
Searchin' everywhere, you turn and swear  
It's always been there**

And then Sonic paused singing while the main electric guitar took a solo almost identical to the real playing of Eddie Van Halen. As that solo played, Sonic eyed his girlfriend and smiled at her. Amy was smiling already but it grew even wider when Sonic did it back to her. And as the guitar started to slow down, Sonic resumed his piano skills and turned his voice on again.

**And if it don't come easily  
One thing you must believe  
You can always have trust in me  
'Cause my heart will always be, yours honestly  
**

All the other instruments began to come on again. And then the whole audience took out their cell phones and waved them in the air back and forth. Amy did the same as the song wrapped up.

**Yeah! Love hurts you sometimes  
Not so easy to find, no-oh  
Searchin' everywhere, you turn and swear  
It's always been there, standin' there  
Love hurts you sometimes  
It's not yours, it's not mine, no-oh  
Love is only to share  
You turn and swear it's everywhere  
Standin' there  
'Cause it's always been there**

With a few more strokes from the keyboard, Sonic played the final notes on the song and then the music faded away. And then the applause came. And everyone clapped the loudest that night for Sonic the Hedgehog.

As Sonic took his bow, Amy finally couldn't help herself. She got up, ran up on the stage and gave Sonic one of the deepest kisses he's ever experienced. And they kept kissing as the two of them walked back to their table as everyone finished their applause for him and the next guy was announced on stage.

After another five more minutes, that kiss finally stopped and then Sonic said to Amy,

"Happy Anniversary, Ames."

Right after he said that, the bacon cheeseburger they ordered was placed in between them along with a big basket of fries just for them. They two of them took turns biting into it and actually fed each other fries. They didn't speak a word the whole time they ate.

Amy knew Sonic was trying to tell her something in that song. And she had a pretty good idea of what it was. But she wanted to let him say it instead of forcing it out of him. That's what a good girlfriend does. Right?

"Sonic? Sonic Hedgehog?"

That voice was not Amy. It wasn't anything close to Amy. Sonic froze up when he heard that voice and Amy tensed up. Both of them looked to the side and saw a girl standing there with a smile pointed at Sonic.

It was Sally Acorn.

"S-Sally? Hey there."

Sonic got up and gave the girl a friendly hug.

"Hey yourself. I heard you sing. Not bad."

"Thank you." Sonic and Sally even though exes with each other, they still had somewhat of a friendship.

"Sally you remember Amy. Don't you?"

Sally looked at Amy and smiled at her as the pink hedgehog stood up.

"Of course I remember." The chipmunk said as she hugged Amy. "She set me up with that psycho black hedgehog."

"Yeah. I apologize for that. I should have known he wouldn't like you." Amy told her. "But he has a girlfriend now and he's not really scary anymore."

Sally's blue eyes went wide.

"Really? He has a girlfriend?" She asked not buying it.

"Yep." Sonic answered this one. "Echidna girl named Tikal. She's cute. And they love each other."

"Well….good for him." Sally said still amazed that a guy like Shadow was able to get any kind of girl. "What about you, Sonic. You seeing anyone?"

"Look to your left." Sonic said.

Amy was to her left. And then she looked back and forth between the two hedgehogs.

"The two of you are…dating?" She seemed more surprised about THAT than she was about Shadow.

"For a month now." Amy replied.

"That's great." She sounded like she was actually happy for them. "I really hope you guys last."

"Thanks, Sally." Sonic said. "What are you doing here in Station Square anyways?"

"I just felt I need to get away from New Mobotropolis for a while so I came down here. When I saw you on stage I felt like saying hi."

"Well it's nice seeing you again." Sonic had to say something to make it not feel weird.

Which it did. For all three of them at the same time. Sonic because he was seeing his ex again, Amy having a conversation WITH Sonic's ex, and Sally learning Sonic has a new girl.

"Yeah. You too. See ya later, Sonic. Amy, you're a lucky girl."

Amy smiled and nodded at the chipmunk as she made her way out of the place. And then the two hedgehogs finished up their food and then they just began to walk through downtown Station Square together. And right off the bat, Amy asked the question Sonic should've seen coming.

"Was that weird for you?"

"Yes. It was a bit weird. What about you?"

"Well I just had a three-way conversation with you and the only other girl you've ever dated. So yeah. It was kind of weird."

Sonic nodded and then looked away and up at the stars.

"You don't….still have feelings for her. Do you?"

Sonic was surprised Amy would ask such a question. And the look he gave Amy made her see that.

"Of course not." He said. "Yes. Sally and I have had some good times together but that was the past. SHE is the past. You're my present now. But in another way….YOU'RE my past too."

The whole baby thing. Amy knew he was referring to that. And that made her smile.

"And who knows, maybe I can be your future too."

Sonic chuckled and then released his hand from Amy's so he could wrap his arm around her neck.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." He still had a smile. "We're young. Who knows what will happen? But… I can honestly say you're the coolest girl I've ever been with."

"One out of two girls. What an achievement." She said with obvious sarcasm.

"No I'm serious. Me and Sally were in a relationship for years and she and I never got as close as you and I are. She was always so uptight and demanding being a princess and all. So she and I never got to do anything without there being a whole horde of royal guards coming with us. But with you and me, it's just us. And I like that way better."

Amy was convinced right there. Sonic thought she was the coolest girl. And that was pure awesomness for her. She put her arm around Sonic's back and the two went on. But as they passed by an alley, they failed to notice that a blue pair of eyes peeked out and watched them walk by. But those eyes were locked on the blue hedgehog.

"_Just you wait, Sonic Hedgehog. Soon, that pink ditz will be gone and you will be mine."_

**XXX**

**So what's Sally up to? What's her master plan? And will it work? You'll just have to wait until the next chapter.**

**And here's a little note for everyone out there who happens to be in a relationship right now. Some of you know who I'm talking about. I could be talking about you. What you should know is, no matter how close you are, you're never done getting to know someone. Everyone has secrets. Some are nice and some aren't. You can learn all kinds of new things about someone even if you've known them all your life. It's a proven fact. **

**P.S.: I am a diehard fan of Van Halen AND that song I chose to put in here. So don't you dare diss them or me for being a college man who likes love songs. That is all. Vote in my poll ! Until the next chapter, peace bitches.**


	13. She Took a Midnight Train Goin Anywhere

**YAAAAY! Shadikal just breached 10,000 hits! YAAAAY! Thanks y'all! And now let us continue on with what is easily becoming my best fic ever! And it's all thanks to you guys! I probably say this a lot, but it never gets old. You guys rock!**

**I only own the plot of this story. The characters are owned by…wait for it….SEEEEGAAAA.**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 13: She Took A Midnight Train Goin' Anywhere**

The next day after their one month anniversary, Amy took off for the Emerald Coast Resort for a spa day with Blaze, Rouge, Tikal, Vanilla, and Cream. All the girls were leaving for the day and they weren't coming back until the next day. So the boys were left by themselves and Tails was asked to Chao-sit Cheese, which he accepted to do before the question was even finished. He thought Cream was going to ask him out on a date so his instincts told him to say yes. It was then he thought he should probably ignore those every once in a while because they can be misleading.

So with all the girls gone, the guys decided to have a little fun for themselves. Silver decided to host a poker game at his place with a few pizzas and soda. Every guy was invited and every guy agreed to come. The buy in was 20 rings and that was the amount everyone brought. And to almost everyone's dislike, Vector, Espio, and Charmy showed up as well to play. Not Charmy though. He and Tails were too young to understand how to gamble right so they just took Cheese and played Silver's 360 in the other room and they came out every few minutes for food.

All of the guys who were in the game handed Silver their rings and he placed them in his room and came back out with the cards and chips. After sorting the chips out, Silver dealt the cards first and the game began. After about three or so hands, the group of Y-chromosomed Mobians began to chat.

"I tell you. I don't know how the rest of you guys do it." Vector was referring to Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and Knuckles. "I'm not the kind of guy who would even WANT to be strapped down by commitment. I'm happy being single."

Of course, Espio didn't believe a single word of that.

"And yet you constantly make countless moves on Miss Vanilla almost every time you see her."

And then came one of Vector's ever so famous crazy responses.

"I may not like commitment NOW, but when she and I DO get together, I'm sure I'll be opened up to it by then."

Espio had to live with Vector's nonsense 24 hours a day 7 days a week. So everyone had to commend him for not feeling any urge to murder Vector and put an end to all the insanity that goes on the Chaotix household. And then Sonic voiced his opinion.

"For your information, Vector, I'm happier than I've ever been because I'm with Amy. You're entitled to have your own opinion. But in MY opinion, you're out of your mind."

"ME? Out of MY mind?" Vector nearly shouted. "You're the one dating someone who used to be your stalker."

"We were there when he and Amy showed us the pictures, Vector." Espio interjected. "Sonic and Amy have known each other since they were babies."

"But they only found that out recently." Vector pointed out. "So it doesn't really count as a lifelong friendship when one of them forgets that the other even existed."

"But I know now, Vector. And I really want be with her right now." Sonic said.

Vector regained his calm.

"Eh, whatever." Then he looked at his cards and threw in a few chips. "That's to you, Knuckles. Call or raise."

"I'll call you." Knuckles threw in the same amount of chips Vector put in a few seconds ago.

"I fold. I don't got anything." Shadow put his cards face down and slid them over to Espio who was currently the dealer of this particular game.

"I'll call you, croc." Silver used his psychic powers to float the right amount of chips into the pot. "Sonic? You in or out?"

"I'm in. Call." The blue hedgie threw in his own chips.

"Fold." Espio put down his cards just like Shadow did.

It turns out the winner of that game was Silver who had a full house. Aces over nines. As the grey hedgie took his winnings, the conversation they were on picked up again.

"At least he and Amy are talking with each other." Silver said. "Blaze told ME, that Tikal told HER, that Shadow seems to be quite distant from her lately. Care to enlighten us, Shadow?"

Shadow had that scowl on his face. It said he most certainly did NOT want to talk about it. But his words had to make sure he got that across.

"No I'm not enlightening ANY of you on anything. I do have a reason for my sudden silence around Tikal and it's a good one. But I'm not gonna tell any of you what it is. Especially faker and the dumbass."

Faker was Sonic. And this was new information for everyone, but apparently Shadow's nickname for Vector, was dumbass.

"What's wrong with ME?" Sonic asked offended.

"Or me?" Vector asked along.

Shadow already had answers prepared for this.

"Dumbass, you're a blabbermouth. Any secret anyone tells you, you blab it to everyone you know. If you worked at GUN handling top secret information, this country would be screwed." And then Shadow turned at Sonic. "And YOU are dating Rose. And I know if I tell you anything, you'll tell her, and then SHE will tell everyone. And this is something I do NOT want Tikal finding out about. This is something I wouldn't even want MARIA to know about. So if any of you value your lives, you will shut up right now. Now give me those damn cards. It's my deal."

His anger seemed to rise as that explanation went on. And Vector started to fear for his life a little bit. A few hours later, the chips were scattered around the table. But the majority of them were split between Silver and Espio. They had also ordered those pizzas and they were eating while they played. And then one more hour later, they decided to call it quits and the results were decided. The amount of rings everyone bet at the beginning in total was exactly 120 rings. And Silver ended up with 50 of them. Almost exactly half. Espio got 35, Shadow got 15, and then Knuckles and Sonic both got ten. Vector got nothing. So out of all of them, Silver and Espio were the only ones who actually made any money tonight. It was pretty obvious something like that would happen. Vector isn't really the best poker player because he doesn't know how to bluff.

After the game ended, they all chatted for a few more minutes and finished off that pizza before they all had to go home. And it was pouring rain outside. Sonic had completely forgotten to bring an umbrella. Which meant he had to run a little slower so he could see where he was going. But eventually, he got home and inside his house where it was warm and dry.

"Stupid rain. Whose idea was it to create water that falls from the sky anyway?"

As he asked that question to himself out loud, he noticed that the tiny red light on his telephone was blinking on and off. That meant he had voicemail. He walked over to the machine and pressed the play button. And immediately he heard her voice.

"Hi Sonic! Just wanted to let you know that the spa is going GREAT. Part of me wishes you were here with us, but then that would be pretty weird for me to drag you to a spa with a bunch of girls. Anyways, just calling to let you know we got here alright and I'll see you tomorrow1 Bye Sonikku!"

Sonic chuckled. A couple months ago, Amy would have knocked him out and dragged him to a spa if he said no. But she had really grown up. Less clingy, which was good, and more herself, which was also good.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

Sonic exchanged multiple glances between his front door where the knocking came from, and his digital clock on his small table next to his couch. 11:35.

"Who the hell would be knocking on my door this late at night? In the rain no less."

Wanting to find out for himself, he got up and answered the door. He was quite surprised to see who it was.

"Sally?"

Indeed it was. Sally was right outside his door her fur soaking wet from the rain and she had a suitcase over her shoulder.

"Sally? What are you doing here?" Sonic asked the obvious coming question.

Sally explained herself.

"I was about to get on the plane to New Mobotropolis when suddenly the captain comes out and tells us there are engine problems that have to be dealt with. So my flight was delayed until tomorrow afternoon and I don't have any more money with me to check into a hotel for the night."

"You're a princess. Don't you have some fancy bank account or something?" Sonic asked hoping she wouldn't say what she thought she was gonna say.

"I checked my wallet for my ATM card. I must have left it in my other wallet back home." And then she asked it. "Is it cool if I stay here just for tonight?"

There it was. The question he knew was coming but wished it wasn't. You have an ex-girlfriend outside your house asking to crash there for the night. What would you do? But Sally and Sonic were still sorta friends. And Sonic just didn't want to leave her out in the rain. He's not heartless like that. Sighing in defeat, he opened his door up all the way.

"Just for tonight. You can crash on the couch."

"Thank you."

Sally walked in the house and Sonic went to go get her a towel so she could dry herself off and made a fire so she could warm up. Sally looked around Sonic's front room.

"This place is a lot different than your house you used to have back in New Mobotropolis." She said to him.

Sonic smiled a bit at that.

"Actually believe it or not, this house is the first one I ever lived in even before I moved out there. It wasn't easy to find it, but I found it."

"Wow. There must be a lot of memories in here." Sally said.

Sonic smiled again. Boy was that true. Even now he could see images of him and Amy as babies running around the house.

"You have no idea." He muttered as he found some blankets for the couch.

He brought out two blankets and a pillow for Sally and set the couch up for her. But Sally wasn't quite ready to go to bed just yet.

"So how have you been, Sonic?" She asked. "You and I didn't really talk that much in that restaurant last night."

"Well that's because it was the one month anniversary of Amy and I and we wanted to celebrate. Well…SHE did. I just went along with it."

"Sounds a bit pushy if you ask me." Sally voiced her opinion.

"Oh believe me. She's not. It's just she's really into celebrating stuff like that and I like making her smile so it's really a win-win arrangement right there."

"Do you love her?"

Sonic froze up when Sally asked that question. And he stood there in that exact spot for a minute before responding.

"Well…I'm still not sure. Saying that you love someone is a big step in a relationship. Take you and I for example. I think part of the reason we broke up is because we moved things way too fast. Even for me."

Okay. Now Sally was interested in this.

"Really? You don't think the reason we broke up had anything to do with the fact that you chose to fight Eggman instead of being with me?"

Sonic was hoping this wouldn't happen. Him and his big mouth.

"Sally, you don't understand. When we first started dating, we became betrothed. And I didn't voice my opinion back then because I didn't want to upset you. But you want honesty? Well then here it is." Apparently Sonic had kept a few of his feelings bottled up for some time now. "Do have any idea how stressing it was for me to get engaged at age 13? All the royal decrees, those fancy banquets, those STUPID suits I had to wear. It was way too much for me to handle. I knew from the minute we got betrothed that our expiration date was set. And I knew it would be WAY before five years."

"Well maybe if you actually tried a bit harder at being a boyfriend than a hero…."

"Oh I tried, Sally." Sonic cut her off. "You have no idea how hard I tried to be your fiancé AND everyone's hero at the same time. It was hard for me to be a hero when every time I came back from fighting Eggman you were always…."

Sonic paused when he saw Sally's extreme glare.

"…. like that."

"Sonic, I cared about you. I didn't want to see you get hurt. What if something happened to you?"

"But nothing DID happen to me."

"Sure but something could have happened to you, Sonic. And if something DID happen, I wouldn't know what to do."

The math was being solved in Sonic's head. He only figured this out right now.

"You never had faith in me. Did you?"

Sally looked down at her feet.

"You thought I was going to lose every time I fought Eggman. Wow. I just realized how different you and Amy are. She's fought by me even BEFORE she and I became a couple. YOU on the other hand just sat on your throne like the pris princess you are."

Sally did NOT like being compared to Amy at all. She had a plan tonight. And it seemed to be going south. She had to make up with him or this was all shot to hell.

"You're right, Sonic." She said. "I didn't come here to fight. You're right. I was your girlfriend and I wasn't as supportive as I should've been. But…I guess the reason for that is…is because I was too scared. I was the princess even before I was born. I was supposed to be and still am the future ruler of New Mobotropolis. If something happened to me, the line of Acorns would have to abdicate. And I couldn't let that happen. But I was a coward, Sonic. I should have been there right by your side in the line of battle. I was just too scared. But I loved you nonetheless, Sonic. I never stopped until you moved back here."

Sonic took a sigh. Of all the people who could have knocked on his door, why did it have to be her? He would have rather dealt with a pissed off Shadow rather than her.

But the two of them had to understand their points of view. Sonic was right and Sally was right too. Transitioning from normal to royal life for a teenager so quickly is a lot of pressure on your shoulders. Especially if you were currently hero of the world. Things like that just don't work out. You could either be one or the other. A choice had to be made and Sonic made his. Sally just didn't like it.

And as for Sally, she was right in a way. Even when Sonic wasn't saving the world, all he had on his mind was stomping on Eggman's badniks and running all the time. It got annoying for Sally to have to drag him back into what was happening right now. But when he DID leave, yes. She should have had faith in him.

"I didn't come here to fight with you, Sonic." Sally whispered.

Sonic nodded.

"I know you didn't. I'm sorry."

"Me too."

Blue and green eyes locked and then the green ones quickly looked away.

"It's getting late. And Amy's going to be back tomorrow. I need to sleep. Good night, Sally."

"Good night."

With a yawn, Sonic resided to his bedroom and Sally got comfortable enough on the couch. This was her plan all along. Get inside Sonic's house was step one. Have a tiny fight so they could make up was step two. And one hour later, it became time for step three.

The rain hadn't let up yet. If anything it became harder. The droplets pounded against the window creating a faint rattle inside. It was enough to cover up Sally's footsteps as she walked to Sonic's room. She opened the door and there he was. Sound asleep. And then she proceeded with step three. She tip-toed up to the side of the bed Sonic wasn't on, lifted up the covers, and then got in there with him. But the movements she made were enough to make the bed shake. Which was also enough to wake Sonic up.

"Sally? What the hell are you doing?" Sonic groaned.

"It's cold out there." Sally said her excuse. "You don't mind, do you?"

Sonic sighed. His ex-girlfriend was in the same bed as him. What's wrong with this picture?

"Fine. I'll take the couch."

Sonic was about to get up but then Sally grabbed his arm.

"You don't have to do that, Sonic."

"Yes I do. It's weird for two exes to be sleeping in the same bed together."

"Don't think of it like that. Think of it as two friends having a sleepover. Just like you and I used to."

Sonic sighed once more and then he just gave up.

"Screw it. I'm too tired to get up anyway."

With that, Sonic lied back down and immediately fell back to sleep when his head hit the pillow. Sally gave that evil smirk as she too drifted off to sleep. Part one of step three was complete. The second part would come the following morning.

**XXX**

**Even though I've never said it before, from the first chapter of this story, this thing has been dedicated to SilverDawn2010. She's going through a rough time right now, and I send her my deepest sympathy. We all should.**

**This is for you, Silver. It always has been.**

**But other than that, Sally's making her move. And Amy's coming back tomorrow. Sonic shouldn't have told her that. What's going on in her head? Until the next chapter, peace bitches.**


	14. Strangers

**YAY! SilverDawn's okay! And I think it's so cool that almost all of you who reviewed last chapter cared about her too. That's just awesome. Once again you guys rock!**

**And now it's time to see what Sally has going on in her head. Usually it's not like me to make Sally as much as a bitch as she is now, but I did it for a good reason just so everyone knows that. It's gonna help Sonic in a way. So enjoy.**

**And one more thing. I'm not entirely proud of this chapter. I don't know why.**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 14: Strangers**

It was 8 o'clock in the morning and the rain had finally stopped a few hours ago. And in Sonic's house, Sally was the one to wake up first. And when she did, she felt something around her. Actually she felt two things. Those two things were Sonic's arms and they were wrapped around her.

Sally smirked evilly once more when she realized this. If there was one thing she had known about Sonic in all the time she had known him, it was that he moved around in his sleep. And if there was someone or something in that same bed with him, sooner or later, he would grab hold of that person or thing. They used to have sleepovers all the time, so she was usually the victim of his sleep grabbing.

This is what she had been waiting for. Her vest was right beside the bed. She slowly reached into it, and then she pulled out a digital camera of hers. Without waking Sonic, she put the camera up in the air, turned it around so the lens was pointed right at the two of them, and then took a picture. She smirked when she saw the pose was perfect. Sonic had his eyes closed and his arms completely around her stomach.

"_When Amy sees THIS, she won't even want to live in the same CITY as Sonic."_

That was her whole plan. Get some sort of evidence of any kind that showed Sonic and Sally doing something very strange together, and then show it to Amy so she'll stay away. She had the picture. Now all she had to do was go over and show Amy. But she couldn't do that. If she just went to her house and just shoved the picture right in her face, the hedgehog would get suspicious and know she was lying. She was smarter than that. But then luck seemed to turn in her favor when she heard these two sounds.

*DING-DONG*

"Sonikku! Rise and shine!"

It was the doorbell and Amy. The girl hedgehog had gotten back from the spa a few hours early and decided to stop by her boyfriend's house and take him out for breakfast. She thought it would be a nice surprise. But boy did she get a surprise. And not in the good kind.

No sir. The surprise she got came a few minutes later when the door opened and Sally was there wearing one of Sonic's T-Shirts that said "Crush 40" across it. And needless to say, Amy was at a loss for words. But she was able to get a few out.

"Sally? What….are you doing here?"

Sally smirked.

"Sonic invited me to stay with him for the night."

Amy made a confused face.

"Why would he do that?"

"I don't know. But he did say he missed me and asked me if I could come."

Amy started to breathe deeply as the words processed through her head. And that evil smirk Sally head only grew as she took out that camera and then showed her the picture.

Sonic seemed really comfortable wrapped around her. Tears started to sting the outer edges of her eyes as Amy stared right at the picture. When she went to grab the camera, Sally pulled it away.

It couldn't be. It just couldn't be true. Sonic would never cheat on her. But that picture…they were so close. That was enough. She couldn't take it anymore.

"When Sonic wakes up, tell him I never want to see him again."

Sally smirked again.

"I'll make sure he gets the message."

With that, Amy turned around and ran away and Sally closed the door. And right as she did, Sonic came out of his room and yawned. When he saw Sally, he froze. He was going to ask what she was doing in the only shirt he ever wore anywhere, but he noticed she had closed the door, signifying that someone was there.

"Who was at the door?" he asked.

That evil smirk came back to Sally once more.

"No one, just a salesman."

Sonic shrugged and then he walked to the kitchen to get some breakfast chili-dogs. And then Sally excused herself to the bathroom and Sonic showed her where it was.

As he closed the door, he walked away with a sigh. It was very weird having her in his house. It was weird that night at the karaoke bar just being around her for a few minutes. But then again, all exes feel a bit weird around each other. Thoughts like these ran through his head as he ate his breakfast. All he wanted to do was get Sally out of his shirt, and then out of his house. And then he could go and see Amy. That's all he wanted.

Twenty minutes passed by. And Sally still hadn't come out of the bathroom quite yet. And it was starting to get on Sonic's nerves. He wanted Sally to leave right now. He already had her luggage by the door so she could get the hell out of there. But then he decided to go and check for himself what she was doing.

He was about to call her name, but instead he heard her voice from behind the door. It sounded like she was talking to someone but there was no one in there with her. The conversation went like this.

"The trip was a complete success! I did what I came here to do. Now all I have to do is convince him to leave this sad sac of a town and get him to move back to New Mobo with me."

Sonic had his ear up against the door as he listened to this. What did she mean by success? And was that "him" she was referring to, actually Sonic?

"Amy? Please, it was easy to get her out of the way. Just one snapshot of me and Sonic together and she went of running and crying like the baby she is."

Now she was talking about Amy? Who was she talking to? But more importantly, Amy out of the way? What did that mean?

Bam.

Faster than he could run the mile, Sonic put the puzzle together. That must have been Amy at the door and Sally drove her away. Oh what did she do to her? And would she honestly confess to doing anything?

Fuming with anger and not even caring if she was really using the bathroom anymore, Sonic kicked the door open and saw that Sally was standing against the wall with a cell phone to her ear. But she nearly dropped it when Sonic burst it.

Twenty seconds passed by and it was just a staring contest between the two of them. Sonic was glaring and Sally actually looked scared. But Sonic finally broke the silence.

"Who was at the door?" He hissed.

Sally stuttered, but she replied.

"I…I told you. It was a salesman."

"DON'T LIE TO ME!"

Sonic usually never yelled, but this was about his girlfriend.

"I know you're lying to me, Sally." He growled. "And there is no chance in hell I'm going anywhere with you."

Now Sally got even more frightened as she looked at her phone.

"How much of that did you hear?" she asked him.

"Unless there was a GOOD part…all of it." Sonic looked like he was going to kill her. "Now you tell me right now. Who was really at the door? And don't you dare lie again."

Sally sighed. There was no use lying now.

"It was Amy for you information. I told her to stay away so you and I can be together like we're supposed to."

Sally tried to walk by him. But Sonic grabbed her arm and squeezed it.

"Stop it, Sonic. You're hurting me." Sally said.

Sonic growled at her again as if he was ready to burst a blood vessel.

"Hurt? You don't know the meaning of the word."

Sonic dragged Sally out to his living room and then practically threw her on the couch.

"Why? Why would you do that?"

"Because you were blind, Sonic." Sally was still holding her ground. "You and her were never going to last. If you weren't going to dump her, someone had to do it for you."

"And you thought I would just run back into your arms? NO WAY! And for the record, you and I, NEVER going to happen! It was a mistake the first time I was with you. THAT is when I was blind!"

"Get it through your head, Sonic. You belong in New Mobotropolis. You always have and you always will."

Sonic was about to punch a hole in his wall. He couldn't believe this was happening.

"Is that the reason you came here, Sally? To get me to come back?"

"As a matter of fact, it is." Sally replied. "I'm going to be the queen soon. But I can't become queen unless I have a husband to marry. And I want that to be you."

So that was her plan. Unless she had someone to marry, Sally couldn't become the queen and the line of Acorns would be no longer royalty. And that only made Sonic madder. He thought the two of them left things on good terms. But only now is he finding out how psycho she really is.

"Well your plan just hit a huge roadblock, Sally." Sonic hissed. "I'm not gonna marry you. I'm not gonna be friends with you. I don't even want to be anywhere NEAR you! Now get the hell out of my house!"

"I'm not leaving, Sonic!" Sally shouted and stood back up. "There's nothing here for you and you know it! And if you like Amy so much, then tell me! How is she so much better than me?"

"How is she better than you? Okay. Here's a list. For one, I've only dated her for one month. And in that time, I was TWICE as happy than when I was with you." Sonic hoped that would get on her nerves. Which it did. "She's nice, loving, caring, brave, strong, and I love her."

Those last three words repeated over in Sonic's head as he realized how true they were. And it made him a bit angry at the same time because it took all this crap to realize it was true. He loved her. With a deep breath, he looked at Sally. And he seemed to be a bit more clam this time.

"Wow. Sally, thank you."

What the hell did Sonic have to thank Sally for?

"You doing all this crap has helped me realize that I truly love Amy. And I feel nothing for you. I did at one time in my life, but that was the past and this is now." And then he looked down at her chest. "Now get the hell out of my Crush 40 T-Shirt before you jinx the band and they break up."

Sally growled. All that work, all that planning, for nothing. She was about to take off the shirt, but then her right hand opened up and she swung it right at Sonic's cheek.

But Sonic caught her wrist before the hand made impact.

"Not this time." Sonic muttered as he released Sally from his grip.

Sally stormed over to the door, threw off Sonic's shirt, and opened the door while she glared at this.

"You're going to regret this, Sonic Hedgehog!"

With that said, Sally slammed the door behind her and hopefully the two of them would never have to even see each other for as long as they lived. But now Sonic was left with a job to do. He had to make sure the damage Sally had caused to Amy's heart was not too severe.

He picked up his phone and dialed in her number. But she didn't answer it. It went to her voicemail.

"_You've reached Amy Rose. Sorry I'm not in right now, but leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."_

*BEEP*

"Amy, I know you're there. I don't want you to talk, just listen. I know you were here not too long ago and whatever Sally told you was a lie. I would never do anything like this to you!"

"Oh save it, Sonic!"

Amy picked up the phone and her voice sounded broken.

"She showed me a picture of the two of you in bed together! You still have feelings for her don't you?"

Sonic didn't know about the picture. Sally thought ahead.

"Amy, you don't understand."

"I understand completely, Sonic! You're still carrying a torch for Sally!"

Amy was lying on her couch right now with tears flowing down her face.

"No! That's not true!"

"I don't want to hear it, Sonic! You and I are through!"

Sonic gave a small gasp. When he heard that last word it damn near made him start crying too.

"Amy, please listen to me." He whispered.

"There's nothing for you to say, Sonic."

Amy's doorbell was heard in the background.

"Amy, please don't hang up."

"I'm sorry, Sonic." With one press of a button, Amy threw the phone on her couch and went to answer the doorbell.

But what she didn't know was that she hit the wrong button by mistake. Sonic was still on the line and he hadn't hung up. And it was a good thing he didn't.

"Amy! Please don't do this!" Sonic cried.

But when he heard her answer the door, he then heard this.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

That scream came from someone who was enraged. And it was a female shriek. And then other noises came through the earpiece of Sonic's phone and he listened intently. He heard wood breaking, glass shattering, and paper flying around.

Sonic thought Amy had gone berserk with rage towards him and was now on a rampage destroying her own house. But it wasn't that at all.

"YOU RUINED MY LIFE YOU BITCH!"

That was NOT Amy. That voice was Sally. She was over there right now. And she was in a fight with Amy. And that got Sonic REALLY angry. Not only did Sally break the two of them up, now she was over there trying to hurt Amy.

And there was no chance in hell Sonic was going to just let that fly. He turned off his phone, cracked his knuckles, and then sped off for Amy's house.

It took him no less than ten seconds for Sonic to get there and see the front door was wide open. And then he saw the two girls.

Sally and Amy were crazy. The two of them were screaming, kicking, punching, and throwing everything they could at each other. But then Sally tackled the pink hedgehog and then pinned her to the ground and started to wail on her.

"YOU STOLE MY MAN!" Sally screamed.

Amy was too busy getting hit to respond. But when Sally tried to throw another punch, Sonic grabbed her arm and threw her off of Amy. And that was when everything froze.

"I'm not your man, Sally." Sonic growled. "Now get out of here."

Amy couldn't believe what was happening. She thought Sonic cheated on her. But if that was true, why would he protect her?

"Why her, Sonic?" Sally hissed. "You could have any girl you want and you pick the ditzy stalker. Why?"

"I told you why already. I love her. Does that not make any sense to you?"

I love her? Sonic actually said that. Amy stood back up and then she grabbed his hand. Sonic looked back at her.

"You were telling the truth." She realized. "Sally was just trying to break us up so she could have you for herself."

Sonic smiled at her and then squeezed her hand.

"I told you. I'd never do anything like this to hurt you." And then he said it to her face. "Amy, I love you. I really do."

Sally just watched in disgust as Amy melted into his arms. And then she said,

"I've always loved you, Sonic. You and I are nowhere NEAR through."

And just like that, Sonic's troubles were over. He had Amy back. But Sally was still in Amy's house.

"You two are freaks." She sneered. "Fine. You want to be with her? Have fun in your screwed up life."

With that said, Sally turned and stormed out the door. And then Sonic looked closely at Amy's face. There were bruises, scratches, and even a few cuts on her arms. Sally had gotten in a few good shots. And Amy was glaring at Sally as she walked out.

"Can I please?" she asked.

"Go ahead."

One smile later, Amy was at her open front door and a hammer was in her hand.

"Hey, Sally! Have a parting gift!"

As hard as she could, Amy threw the hammer right at Sally. And two seconds later….

*WHACK*

"OOOWWW!"

Amy scrunched her face as she saw the hammer make impact with Sally's head.

"Have fun gettin' out a bump THAT big!"

She slammed the door and then Sonic approached her and stood right in front of her.

"I promise you. I will never put you through anything like this ever again."

"Good." Amy replied. "Because she had some nails on her."

She was referring to the scratch marks she had on her arms. Her dress was even a bit torn.

"Yeah just so we're clear, I have no other crazy ex-girlfriends. Just crazy fangirls."

Amy giggled when she heard that word. Fangirl. Just like she was once. She still was but now she was way more than that. She was his girlfriend. And they loved each other. Amy and Sonic were both happy he got it out there finally. Sure it wasn't really in the way Sonic wanted it to be in, but things happen in life.

And then the two hedgehogs became lost in the moment as they connected their lips with each other's in what they considered to be the most passionate kiss they have ever had. Never before had Sonic felt a kiss like this, and nor did Amy. This was true love speaking to them through body language. It was saying that nothing could come between them. Not words, actions, crazy ex-girlfriends, nothing. These two were bonded by the strongest force in the universe.

As the kiss ended, Sonic whispered the words again into her ear.

"I love you, Amy."

"I love you too, Sonic."

After one more kiss, the two of them decided to straighten up Amy's house. When Sally ran in, she knocked quite a few things over and broke a few glass items. So after half an hour of sweeping, moving, and cleaning, the house was as good as new.

"By the way, how did you know Sally was here?" Amy asked not knowing.

Sonic smiled at her.

"You didn't hang up your phone. I heard you guys scream."

The phone was still on Amy's couch. She went over and picked up to see Sonic was right. She pressed the wrong button. She pressed the right one hanging it up for sure this time and then Sonic asked something.

"Do you think you could come to my house?" he asked. "I was hoping you could help me burn some stuff."

"Burn stuff? Like what?" Amy asked completely confused.

"Like my bedsheets." Sonic replied.

"Or in translation, anything Sally touched in your house?" She caught on quickly.

"Yeah."

Amy understood why Sonic needed to do that. So she agreed. They gathered up everything in Sonic's house that Sally had come in contact with. The bed sheets, blankets, towels, Sonic even torched his whole freakin couch. But he was hesitant on destroying the Crush 40 T-Shirt that he loved so very very much. But Sally ruined it by wearing it. So it had to go. Besides, they were touring next month so he could get a new one then.

After the backyard bonfire, the phone rang in Sonic's house. And surprisingly enough, it was Shadow who was on the other end of the call. Sonic put the phone on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Faker, it's me."

"I know Shadow. It's called caller ID." Sonic replied. "So what's up?"

"Listen. Tikal and I are going out tonight at The Brethren. And I want you and Rose to come."

Amy and Sonic both thought they were hearing things. Shadow was willingly inviting them out to dinner with him and Tikal? This was turning out to be a very weird day. And it wasn't even noon yet! So what gives?

"Shadow, is Tikal making you say this?" Amy asked wanting to be sure.

"No. I'm doing this on my own free will." Shadow snapped back.

"But you can understand our skepticism." Sonic shot back at the black one. "So why the invite? Is it getting boring with you and Tikal?"

"No. In fact tonight I plan to make things a lot more interesting. I've already called everyone else and they're gonna be there."

"Everyone as in…who?" Amy asked.

"Silver and Blaze, Knuckles, and Rouge, fox boy, I even invited the rabbit girl and her mother to come. Are you in or out?"

Sonic and Amy exchanged a very confused look. This was still very hard to believe. But maybe this had to do with why Shadow had been so quiet lately. Maybe he was finally going to explain why he was turned down.

"Alright we'll be there. What time?" Sonic asked.

"Come at 6:30. Goodbye."

Shadow hung up and then Sonic and Amy collapsed on the chair already exhausted from what had happened this morning.

But if they thought it couldn't get any more shocking, boy were they in for s surprise tonight.

**XXX**

**Alright. I'm just gonna say it. I suck at love triangles. Originally I was going to have this go a whole different direction and not even have Amy and Sally fight with each other. But then I went back and edited the whole damn thing. And I'm still not completely satisfied but oh well.**

**Anyways, be prepared people. The next chapter is the final chapter. And that chapter will actually lead into the planned sequel for this story. Yes you heard me right. There is a sequel in mind and I already have it planned out. All I have to do is finish this one and it will be underway.**

**BTW: There's a movie reference somewhere in this chapter. See if you can spot it. I'll let you know what it is next chapter.**

**I know this is a day late, but Happy Valentine's Day everyone. So until the next chapter which is the last one, peace bitches.**


	15. Hold On To The Feelin'

**Alright everyone! I can't believe it's time. I'm actually sad this story has to end. I know I've said this at the end of A Spy's Day Off AND Shadikal: How is it Possible, but this one just takes the cake here. This is truly the best story I've ever written and you guys made it possible. And it just hit 10,000 hits!**

**BTW: That movie reference from the previous chapter. When Sonic told Sally to get out of his Crush 40 shirt before she jinxed the band and they break up, that was borrowed from the hit Adam Sandler movie, "The Wedding Singer." But in the movie, instead of Crush 40, the band on the shirt was Van Halen.**

**I would copy SilverDawn2010 and shout out the names of everyone who stuck with this story from beginning to end, but there are so many of you guys. It would take me forever to name all of you. You guys rock!**

**So without further ado, I give you all the final chapter to DSB. Enjoy!**

**Don't Stop Believin'**

**Chapter 15: Hold On To That Feelin'**

Quarter past six. Shadow and Tikal were at the restaurant called The Brethren. It was pretty much the Mobian equivalent to a TGI Fridays. There were TV's everywhere with different sports games on, music playing, it was a family place. There were parents with children all over the place both human and Mobian. And the food was actually good there.

One by one, each couple showed up. First Knuckles and Rouge arrived and took their seats. Then Silver and Blaze came in. Followed by Tails, and then Cream and her mother arrived and the mother rabbit shot a very strange look at Shadow to which he shrugged. They had to wait a few more minutes for Sonic and Amy to arrive. And when they did, everyone was easily able to take notice of Amy's body. Because right now it was mostly covered in bruises and scratches.

"Amy! What happened to you?" Cream asked immediately worried.

"What she said." Rouge added. "You look terrible."

"Did you run into a tree or something?" Silver asked.

Amy looked at Sonic and the both of them shrugged. It wasn't anything to be proud of, but they had always been honest with their friends. So the two of them sat down, and explained everything that had happened in the past 24 hours. And needless to say, everyone was a bit surprised, and confused.

"Alright. So…let me get this straight." Knuckles gave it a shot. "Sonic's ex-girlfriend showed up trying to get him back but instead ended up getting told off by Sonic and tried to beat up Amy?"

Sonic and Amy both nodded confirming Knuckles to be correct.

"Why would we she do something like that?" Tails asked knowing Sally almost as good as Sonic. "I thought Sally would be more understanding."

"I did too, lil bro." Sonic told the young kitsune. "But not everything is quite what it seems in this crazy world."

"Are you alright, Amy?" Cream asked the hedgehog still worried.

Amy smiled at her.

"I'm alright, Cream. I promise you, I'm perfectly alright."

Vanilla patted her daughter's back.

"Don't you worry, Cream. Amy can take care of herself." But then she made a concerned look at Amy. "You didn't fight back did you?"

Amy rubbed the back of her head.

"Well….I wouldn't call it fighting back." She tried to explain. "More like…"

"She threw her hammer at Sally when her back was turned." Sonic finished for her.

Amy was smiling as she remembered how dead on her aim was when she threw that hammer. The face of that hammer hit Sally right in the back of her head. She was probably knocked unconscious after a few moments after the hammer made contact. And that was just fine with Amy. She got clawed by the bitch. She at least got in one good shot back at her.

"Yep. I sure did." Amy was damn proud of it too. "She tried to steal my hog."

"Atta girl." Rouge was not against Amy's tactics at all. "Show em' who's boss. If anyone tried to steal Knuckles away from me, I'd kick their a…"

"Rouge! Why don't we ask Shadow why he asked us all here?" Vanilla stopped Rouge before she said a word that Cream shouldn't hear.

And then everyone got back on track.

"Yeah. Why DID you call us here, Shadow?" Blaze asked him confused like the rest.

"It's not really like you to invite everyone to dinner and then offer to pay." Tails said.

Shadow shot a confused look at the young fox.

"I never said I would pay for dinner." Shadow corrected.

Tails rubbed the back of his head and chuckled.

"I know. I was kinda hoping someone could spring for me. I'm flat broke."

He had used up all of his money on tools and parts again. Whenever that kid gets his greasy gloves on any amount of cash, he had to spend it on whatever parts he could get to improve his plane. It was his curse.

Sonic sighed at his little brother.

"Don't worry, buddy. I got ya covered."

Tails smiled. He could always count on Sonic.

"Thanks a lot, Sonic."

"Now can we get back on topic?" Silver asked. "So what gives, Shadow?"

"Would this happen to do with why you've been so quiet lately?" Tikal wanted to know herself what Shadow was up to.

And the black hedgehog looked at his girlfriend and nodded.

"Yes, Tikal. It has to do with that." He went on. "The truth is, I've been thinking extra hard about something. Something that is very important."

No one still could get a clear reading from that. Just what was Shadow up to? And why was it necessary to have everyone around?

"What does this have to do with, Shadow? Are we moving away?" Tikal tried to guess.

"No." Shadow answered. "This….has to do with you and me."

Has to do with Shadow and Tikal? Now this was going somewhere. But the direction was still a bit hazy without the right details.

"Is something wrong with our relationship, Shadow?" Tikal was starting to get a bit afraid of where this might be going.

Shadow nodded. "Actually there is, Tikal. I've been thinking a lot and I've come to realize, I'm not happy the way our relationship is right now."

Those words that exited his mouth made everyone realize what was going on. What this all was. And the tears Tikal formed in her eyes added on to it.

"I get it now." She sobbed. "You're breaking up with me! And you invited our friends because you didn't want me to make a scene!"

Tikal began to cry into her hands. But when Shadow tried to say something, Rouge cut him off.

"How could you?" she shouted. "She's a sweet girl! How could you not like her?"

"You love her!" Silver was shouting too. "You said it yourself!"

"I should have known this would happen sooner or later." Knuckles remarked.

Everyone, even Cream began to voice their objections at Shadow's decision. But whenever Shadow tried to say something, they interrupted him. After about three minutes of hearing them yell at him and Tikal crying right next to him, he got fed up. He stood up, reached behind his back, pulled out his handgun, and pointed it at the roof.

*BANG BANG BANG BANG*

He fired four shots in the air and the result was exactly like he had expected. Everyone was now silenced and Tikal had stopped her blubbering. But everyone else in the joint had gone to the ground thinking it was some sort of robbery. Rouge quickly cleared it up that Shadow was authorized to carry the gun as the black hedgehog sat back down with all the shocked looks still on him.

"Now are you going to let me talk?" he spoke in that dark tone he hadn't used in quite a while.

"O….kay." Tails looked like he was about to wet himself.

"Thank you." Shadow looked back at Tikal. "Tikal, I'm not breaking up with you."

"You…you're not?" she muttered.

"Of course not. Why would why ever do that?"

"But you said you weren't happy with our relationship."

"No no no. I love you so much. I'm not happy because…well…I want more."

No one still had a clue what the heck was going on here. But then Shadow got out of his chair and stood up as he grabbed Tikal's hands with his own and held them gently.

"Tikal, I love you more than life itself. I never thought I could feel this way about anything." Shadow was going somewhere with this. "The reason I've been so quiet lately…is because I've been wanting to say something to you. Something I think I should have said a long time ago."

And then it was right there, in front of everyone in the restaurant, in front of his friends, in front of his girlfriend…

Shadow kneeled down to Tikal. And the girl's eyes, along with everyone else's, went wider than ever before.

"Tikal, I've been wanting to do this for some time now. I'm only sorry I didn't do this sooner." Shadow reached behind his back and pulled out of nowhere, a tiny black velvet box. When he opened it up, there was a ten karat diamond ring inside of it. And then Shadow asked this.

"Tikal, will you marry me?"

Almost immediately, Tikal started crying again. But this time she was happy. No. Happy wasn't the word for it. More like she was in a world of total euphoria right now. This wasn't a breakup. It was a proposal. She was so overcome with emotion she ended up going to her own knees sobbing uncontrollably. And Shadow sweatdropped because he really didn't expect this kind of a reaction. He closed the box and then hugged the girl trying to get her to calm down a bit so she could give an answer.

But even though all of them were completely overwhelmed with the shock of seeing Shadow propose, Rouge had her eye on that tiny black box. There was a gorgeous diamond ring inside of it. And her finger was about the same size as Tikal's. With everyone's eyes glued on Shadow, she actually slowly tried to make a grab for it. But Knuckles grabber her arm.

"Are you serious?" the echidna demanded. "You'd seriously steal an engagement ring from your own friend?"

"But…pretty." That was all Rouge had to say on that.

"Leave it alone." Knuckles warned. "You may be my girlfriend, but I still don't like that you're a thief. Leave it alone."

Rouge whined one last time and she put her hand back to herself. Luckily no one else noticed that.

But now Shadow had finally comforted Tikal enough to the point where her crying had calmed down. She hadn't stopped entirely, but she was at least able to talk again.

"Well?" Shadow said to her. "Aren't you going to say something?"

Shadow grabbed the box and opened it up again revealing the ring to Tikal once more. It was just so beautiful. A ten karat diamond placed on top of a golden band that would fit her left ring finger perfectly. Tikal's eyes were locked onto it. And then she finally spoke.

"Oh Shadow." She whispered as she covered her mouth with her hands. And then she nodded her head. "Yes. Of course I'll marry you."

Everyone gave a very big smile as Shadow took off Tikal's left glove, and slid the ring onto her ring finger. It was a perfect fit. After she gazed at the ring for a minute or so, Shadow helped his new fiancé up to her feet. And then everyone around them, friend or not, began to clap. The whole restaurant who feared Shadow's gun not too long ago was now clapping for his successful proposal. Then the manager, a big Mobian penguin came out.

"Congratulations!" he said. "We have a policy here. Anyone who proposes in the establishment gets a free meal courtesy of the boss. And that's me."

"Really? For all of us?" Silver asked.

"For all of you!" The penguin shouted. "Now enjoy!"

The penguin went away and Shadow and Tikal sat back down and now all the eyes were glued on them. Tikal was showing her ring to Blaze and Sonic was just staring at his black and red doppelganger.

"So that's why you've been so quiet." He figured it out. "You've been waiting for the right time to propose to her."

Shadow nodded and gave a response.

"I wanted you all to be here for this because I thought it would be easier than having to call you one by one and tell you the news." Shadow had this planned ahead apparently. "And I specifically wanted Rose to be here because now since Tikal said yes, I have a question for her."

No one exactly knew why Shadow always called Amy by her last name. Maybe it was because he wasn't as familiar with her as he was with Rouge or Tikal. But whatever.

"What is it you want to ask me, Shadow?"

Shadow actually game Amy a small smile.

"I was wondering if you would like to be the wedding planner."

Amy gasped at that. She thought she was dreaming.

"You….want me….to plan your wedding?"

Shadow nodded. "I think it's safe to say you're the one most qualified."

Just to be sure, Amy asked Sonic to pinch her. Which Sonic did. Nope. She was in full reality. Shadow had just asked her to plan the wedding for him and Tikal.

"I accept! I totally accept!" Amy had just turned on the girl within. "Alright, you two just set a date and I'll let my mind finesse on ideas."

"We'll keep you posted." Tikal said to her.

And then Tikal just felt like she had to kiss Shadow. And she did. With all her passion. She didn't care who was watching. She wanted everyone to know how strong her love for him was. And Shadow felt the same thing right back at her. He wrapped his hands around the dreadlocks on the back of her head and pressed his lips harder against hers.

And the sight of that made Silver and Blaze want to kiss too. Which of course they did. And sooner than expected, Knuckles and Rouge started kissing too. And then Sonic and Amy just looked at them.

"Do you think that'll be us one day, Sonic?" Amy asked referring to Shadow and Tikal.

Sonic shrugged. "Maybe someday, Ames. Maybe someday."

The hedgehogs were now looking into each other's green eyes.

"Well I for one won't stop believing we will." Amy said.

Neither them noticed the pun. And then Sonic unknowingly made another one.

"You hold on to that feeling, Amy. And don't let it go."

And then, just like that, Amy and Sonic began to make out too. Seconds later, by either some freak coincidence or some spiritual thing, the famous Journey song came upon the speakers of the restaurant.

**Just a small town girl**

**Livin' in a lonely world**

**She took a midnight train goin' anywhere**

As the song went on, no one but Sonic and Amy seemed to care. This song would forever be THEIR song. It symbolized a lot for them. Amy never stopped believing in Sonic, and Sonic always had a feeling in his heart for Amy. And by that song, they two of them were united. And now they had a wedding to look forward to.

But that's another story.

**XXX**

**Well, there you have it folks! It's finally done. And I think we all know what this means.**

**SHADIKAL WEDDING TIME!**

**I think it's about time I did another Shadikal. And I'm thinking about starting up some sort of contest for all you guys. I'll keep you posted on that.**

**Thanks to all of you who made this story so great. And I'll be back soon with the new wedding story soon.**

**But until then, as always, peace bitches.**


End file.
